Calamos Supports Greece
GreekReporter.comGreek NewsEconomyIMF Tells Greece: Collect Taxes Or Raise Them

IMF Tells Greece: Collect Taxes Or Raise Them

tax2Following a report from Greeceā€™s creditors that shows tax collections are far off course despite big tax hikes, the International Monetary Fund has warned that unless revenues rise and tax cheats are caught that the government will be forced to impose more austerity measures.
That has included previous big tax hikes, including jumping the Value Added Tax (VAT) to 23 percent, to go along with big pay cuts and slashed pensions because tax evaders who owe $70 billion have largely gone un-prosecuted with not a single major case being settled despite nearly 700 arrests last year of suspected large evaders.
Inspectors from the Troika of Greeceā€™s lenders, including the IMF, European Union and European Central Bank, are in Athens monitoring progress on reforms and issued the report showing the tax collection effort is woefully short because some inspectors donā€™t have desk or computers and other offices are understaffed. The Troika is putting up $325 billion in two bailouts to prop up the countryā€™s faltering economy.
Prime Minister Antonis Samaras could be forced to break his promise not to impose more austerity unless more taxes are collected. ā€œIf Greece can do a better job of collecting taxes, then the government should be able to avoid further wage and pension cuts,ā€ IMF spokesman Bill Murray said at a news conference. The evidence so far though shows that the government canā€™t meet the mark as the financial crimes squad SDOE is in disarray and has almost stopped auditing.
The IMF experts were expected to end the mission in mid-March, he said. The report of the creditors will determine whether Athens will receive a scheduled loan installment of 2.8 billion euros ($3.7 billion.) In March 2012, Greece obtained a massive bailout but successive installments were suspended for months due to delays in implementing reforms and austerity measures mandated by the aid program to narrow its fiscal deficit.
In a draft report released Feb. 28 by an association of Greek tax collectors, EU and IMF auditors criticized Greece for failing to address its poor tax collection, a key requirement for the reeling country to get back on its feet, Agence-France-Presse (AFP) reported. The draft report said reforms in tax management were ā€œfragmentedā€ and ā€œmuddledā€ and the country collected only one billion euros ($1.3 billion) only half of the budget target.
The state is still owed 55 billion euros, a sum it has little hope of collecting because many debtor companies are bankrupt. ā€œA visible risk is that tax administration will continue to follow a course of slow reform without eliminating political tampering or corruption,ā€ the report said. ā€œIt is rather unlikely that 2013 revenue targets will be met without immediate changes,ā€ it said.
Murray declined to comment on the report, saying he had not read it, but added: ā€œImproving tax collection will feed into the staffing levels.ā€ Among its obligations to its creditors, Greece must eliminate 25,000 civil service jobs this year.
Ā 
Ā 
Ā 

See all the latest news from Greece and the world at Greekreporter.com. Contact our newsroom to report an update or send your story, photos and videos. Follow GR on Google News and subscribe here to our daily email!



Related Posts