To: TimF who wrote (564420 ) 5/3/2010 7:28:14 PM From: tejek 1 Recommendation Read Replies (1) | Respond to The New York Times has an article describing widespread tax evasion in Greece, along with an implication that the country’s fiscal crisis is largely the result of unpaid taxes and could be mostly solved if taxpayers were more obedient to the state. This is grossly inaccurate. A quick look at the budget numbers reveals that tax revenues have remained relatively constant in recent years, consuming nearly 40 percent of GDP. The burden of government spending, by contrast, has jumped significantly and now exceeds 50 percent of Greek economic output. "In the wealthy, northern suburbs of this city, where summer temperatures often hit the high 90s, just 324 residents checked the box on their tax returns admitting that they owned pools. Greek’s shadow economy represents 20 to 30 percent of its G.D.P. and came back with a decidedly different number: 16,974 pools." "The problem in Greece is not so much reducing wages as reducing the numbers. We employ four times as many teachers per capita as the Finns. The public sector is simply overstaffed because politicians for too long have used jobs to get votes," he said.
