What these people have in common is that they are connected to offshore companies that appear to operateunder the radar of taxauthorities at a time when endemic tax evasion is fueling a financial crisis that has devastated Greeces economy and threatened the future of the euro. Officials say they will check ICIJs data for any evidence of misconduct by owners of offshore companies. Vakakis did not answer detailed questions sent to him by ICIJ, but he said in an email: I have declared officially all without exception my transactions that should be announced in public, as provided by relevant Greek legislation.. They bragged of using aerial photographs to get tax evaders who failed to declare their swimming pools on tax returns as required. Very small businesses (0-9 people) in Greece employ a staggering 59% of all workers in the country -double the EU average. But many Greeks have little confidence that any of them will add up to much. }); Those shut down left more than 400 people unemployed. "There is a last effort here to bridge the gap between Greek proposals and what euro zone members want, which is a global framework that is consistent with stability and growth," Pierre Gramegna told CNBC Wednesday. The partners goal was to refurbish the yacht and restore its past glory, so they could charter it profitably. The likelihood of detection and punishment. Fitzpatrick retained a leading role in the partnerships that owned the ship. On Thursday, Greece asked to bundle its four debt payments to the IMF due in June so that it can pay them all together at the end of the month, according to Greek newspaper Kathimerini. But the lack of visible action is one of the reasons many Greeks cite for their disdain for the tax collection efforts. We do not believe you need a Porsche to sell Coca-Cola, he said. Losses from alcohol, tobaccoand fuel smuggling amountto about 0.5% of GDP. var d = new Date(); In 2010 the Hellenic Labour Inspectorate audited 22,000 private enterprises and found that a quarterof employees had not been declared. var script = document.createElement("script"); Passage of the bill will help Athens show its creditors it is serious about cutting thousands of public sector jobs by the end of the year and modernizing the tax code. if (typeof(window._mpspixZ) != 'string') { Tax collectors have been threatened or chased out of many towns, union officials say, though only a few cases, like the one here, get much attention. Read MoreGreek crisis: 2,400 hours of brinkmanship. Get this delivered to your inbox, and more info about our products and services. Real estate property taxes in Greece: Tax on Capital Gains Capital gains are not taxed individually but are contributed to the company's taxable income. Greece's shadow economy (i.e., unreported income) is about 25% of the country's gross domestic product. At the same time, however, these are the enterprises that pay 69% of corporate tax revenue in the country, a totalamount that is around4% of state revenue, approximately 1.9 billion. mps._log('**** LOADED: Google PII Fix - cnbc-cms-header-insert'); Service, a Creative Commons The goal was a simplified system, said Antonis Mouzakis, a prominent tax accountant in Athens. return _regex.test(_qs); Next year, Greek officials will also have to give up on one tax collection system that has worked well so far: attaching property tax bills to electric bills. During the crisis, the income tax on individuals has increased and the tax-free limit has been reduced. may be losing as much as $30 billion a year to tax evasion . In these hard times, he and the other restaurant owners had pooled 1,000 each, about $1,380, for music and decorations, only to see their investment disappear with the crowds when the scuffle began. For instance, newsstand owners could simply claim that they earned an income of 12,000 euros (about $15,900) and no questions were asked. ","mainEntityOfPage": "https://www.cnbc.com/id/100875192","headline": "Greece Plans Swimming Pool, Luxury Car Tax ","dateCreated": "2013-07-10T03:23:32-0400","datePublished": "2013-07-10T03:23:32-0400","dateModified": "2013-07-10T03:23:32-0400","author": {"@type": "Person","name": "Reuters"},"publisher": {"@type": "Organization","name": "CNBC","logo": {"@type": "ImageObject","url": "https://sc.cnbcfm.com/applications/cnbc.com/staticcontent/img/cnbc-logo-amp.png","width": 360,"height": 60}},"image":{"@type": "ImageObject","url": "https://fm.cnbc.com/applications/cnbc.com/resources/img/editorial/2013/07/10/100875202-139058324.720x405.jpg","width": 720,"height": 405},"thumbnailUrl": "https://fm.cnbc.com/applications/cnbc.com/resources/img/editorial/2013/07/10/100875202-139058324.720x405.jpg","articleSection": "Markets","url": "https://www.cnbc.com/id/100875192","keywords": ["Articles","Markets","Economy","World Economy","Europe News","source:tagname:Reuters"]} During the crisis it has decreased across Europe. Yet signs of wealth abound. Other measures in the bill include a luxury tax that will be levied on houses with swimming pools and owners of high . French Economy Minister Emmanuel Macron told CNBC in Paris Wednesday that Europe's leaders were committed to "find(ing) a solution to keep Greece in the euro zone," but that this required equal commitment from the Greek government. This is not true only in Greece tax evasion is a universal phenomenon. monkey". Mr. Plakopoulos, who supports most of the governments new efforts, admits that he and his friends used to chuckle over the best ways to avoid taxes. Prokopis . script.setAttribute("onload", "setAdblockerCookie(false);"); The first 12.000 is taxed at 15%, which means that if you earn 12.000 from rent, the tax you will pay is 1800. Two years later, he set up shop in one of the worlds most secretive offshore jurisdictions, the Cook Islands in the South Pacific. return '
' This is a critical characteristic of the Greek tax problem: in Greece, the percentage of the self-employed is twice as high asthe European average. Income from capital (real estate, dividends, royalties, interest): 3. Both men were named directors of Christina GP in the company documents but they used a nominee firm, Stockcorp, as shareholder. For example, if you earn 35.000 euros, your tax will be 1800 euros for the first 12.000, plus 35% of the remaining 23.000 euros, which totals an amount of 9.850. You own a property (see below). The document proposes hiking taxes on luxury items such as planes, helicopters, gliders and swimming polls to 13 percent from 10 percent. On the eve of an International Monetary Fund bailout deal that is sure to call for deep sacrifices here, including harsh austerity measures, layoffs and steep tax increases, many Greeks say they feel chastened by the financial crisis that has pushed the country to the edge of bankruptcy. The exact scale of tax evasion in Greece is obviously unknown. But perhaps as troublesome, some experts say, is the growing grass-roots anger that led the customers to turn against the four tax inspectors recently in Archanes. The tax-free limit has also been abolishedfor the self-employed, who now have to pay a larger percentage of tax in advance. SOCIAL_MEDIA: 8 This was but one example of how upper middle-class Greek citizens hide their assets . if (!matches) { mps._adsheld = []; mps._queue.adload = mps._queue.adload || []; })(); In a recentdiaNEOsis opinion poll, respondents seemed to agree: 85,5% stated that they consider tax evasion to be equivalent to theft. The reach of the Greek offshore economy extends also to the public sector, particularly to military contractors. The latter category, which makes up 0.4% of Greek businesses, paid 61% of taxes. mps.cloneAd = function() { return false; } Another way Greeks use offshore companies is to buy and sell bonds thus keeping the arrangements cloaked in secrecy and avoiding taxes on the profits, according to Panayiotis Douvis, author of the book Offshore Activities and former director of investigations at the Greek Financial Crimes Unit.Why Is Darkseid Afraid Of Kryptonians,
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