TAX NEWS - June 2010

FinMin: Clampdown on tax evasion

The government is determined to clamp down on tax evasion and punish those who acquired wealth at the state's expense, regardless of "how high" they are, finance minister George Papaconstantinou stressed in an interview appearing in the Sunday newspaper "Proto Thema".

Papaconstantinou also stressed that every new measure will be enacted in order to put a stop to the impunity, and announced that "we will soon see shops being closed due to tax evasion".

He said that the next step for regaining the taxpayers' confidence in the inspection mechanism will be minimisation of their direct contact with the services.

He further said that the country's exodus from the economic crisis "tunnel" has already commenced, "from the moment we pinpointed the problems", and "we are proceeding, together with the society, in the implementation of a three-year program for the salvation and recovery of the country".

"We have already the first indications that the economy can cover more quickly than we had anticipated," he added.

Papaconstantinou said that legislation is being drafted for the speedy processing of large investments, along the model of the Athens 2004 Olympic Games, while, regarding the substantial increase in inflation, he explained that this was due to the impact of the increase in indirect taxes but also to the manner of operation of the Greek market.

He further criticised as "untimely and unjustified" the recent substantial downgrading of the Greek economy by Moody's, and stressed once again that Greece will not depart from the EU's common euro currency and return to the drachma.

Papaconstantinou said that another bill will be tabled in parliament in the coming days on "fiscal responsibility" which will introduce rules and regulations setting a limit to the abilities of each budget to diverge from its initial forecasts.

He also said that default and renegotation of the Greek debt was an option "that we fought hard to avoid, because it would have been catastrophic for our economy".