“In Greece tax inspectors have found that one in two businesses are cheating them. The rate is 56% on tourist islands like Mykonos and Crete, ” quoth Gavin of the Beeb, as if we should be shocked or otherwise impressed by the new-found diligence of the taxman.
Now bear in mind that I’m just a cynical old businessman who visited the Med and Middle East for 25 years from around the time the UK joined the EU (or somesuch). So I could be considered unduly aware of these things, eh? But to my certain knowledge business in those parts has long been conducted in ways least likely to benefit the Revenue or conform to local regulations.
My pic shows Mykonos mills used for public servants to tilt at.
One of my favourites was my distributor in Rome who obtained permission (and financial assistance) to build two tower block apartments in a new suburb in the ’70s and duly erected the framework of each within the required period; but then he used both as warehouses, conveniently situated near his customers and off the municipal radar. He told me he planned to finish them as apartments one day, when he sold the business; by which time the area would have been developed and residential rental values would be much more attractive.
I also knew Cyprus before its EU membership was eventually sanctioned in 2004 (gawd knows how) – so maybe things have changed – but practically any business advantage could be ‘acquired’ there on the old-boy network; and it was no secret that only amateurs paid tax.
So, please, why is every hack and his dog now moved to report this phenomenon?
Boadicea's Chariot 
[Rant shield down]
Having toiled for more than thirty years under the UK’s PAYE system whereby tax and National Insurance are deducted at source by the gobmunt and you get to keep what is left for your efforts, I feel no moral obligation to contribute more seeing as the gobmunt has royally screwed my pensions by keeping interest rates at 0.5% in order to encourage the feckless to spend money they haven’t got and THEN announce that I have to wait an extra year (thus far) for my state pension. It is much the same here where the state pension for which I have been (and still am) paying since 2004 has been both delayed and reduced.
Fekkemall. This is how it works now.
1) Never use the motorways upon which tolls were introduced in 2011 and on which usage has dropped by nearly 70% since.
2) “Olá, Zé, Could you build a wall for me?” “Sim, Senhor Zangado, com certeza”. “How much?” “€500 Senhor, but €300 if you have cash.” ” Deal.”
3) “Hiya OZ. Can you translate these documents for me?” “Sure” “I’m a bit strapped for cash at the moment, but I’ve just had a pig killed. Would you accept half the pig instead.” “Oh, yes. Deal absolutely”
And so on. Cash or barter. The black economy if you like, but it ain’t really like that. Seeing as the (Portuguese) gobmunt is run by the faceless, unelected Troika from Brussels under which drivers get fined €150 for starting the engine before clipping on a safety belt, or driving barefoot or in flip-flops, or – get this – fined €150 for having a couple of packs of smoked salmon in the car, the receipt for which you binned at the supermarket, (No, it wasn’t me) then it has become a war of attrition and I’m not going to be the last one hurt.
[Rant shield up]
And breathe!
OZ
The big tourist islands feel pretty self-sufficient with all their tourist income and produce, so consider themselves a good bit removed from Athens and the mainland. They don’t have immigrants either.
Ozinho: the Chinese have a rule — be invisible. Keep quiet, do not attract attention and just get about one’s business. The authorities have bigger things to worry about and are content to let people take care of themselves as that makes their lives easier. Black market economy? That’s the way it works — people take care of themselves that way. Tax avoidance? So long as the government has enough to do what it needs to and enough unofficial service expedition fees come in to keep the machine working smoothly there is no need to get one’s hair in a frizz. Perhaps that is why China is much more successful than most Western countries at the moment and Chinese diaspora communities tend to thrive?
For what it’s worth, things are not much better in ‘Murca. The amount of surveillance and the high cost of fees for even minor infractions are cringe-worthy.
Evenin’ Christopher. What grips my fur is when some pollie gets up on his hind legs and solemnly intones that “the gobmunt is investing in ……yada, yada….” No you’re not – the gobmunt has no money of its own and you’re spending money extracted from people who actually worked to earn it.
Therefore I am keeping an extremely low profile, avoiding contact with the establishment wherever and whenever legally possible.
OZ
OZ, in the same vein the gubmint here is ‘fining’ the state-owned rail operator for poor service! That’ll teach ’em, eh? 😦
I regard it as my bounden duty to keep any money possible out of the hands of the taxman and have done since self employment setting in in 1973.
They only waste it on things I choose not to subsidise!
I paid for the boy’s education and private medicine directly.
I have always paid cash as much as possible. any time I can.
A few years ago in the late 90’s the NI people rang me up and asked for 3000 or so. I asked them what my pension would be if I paid. They said nothing, you have not paid in enough years!!!
I couldn’t stop laughing, told them to whistle and swivel. Pay for NOTHING, what planet are they on?
Curiously they sent me a letter saying I was not and never would be eligible for a pension and as such I had no need to contribute further.
It was all to do with me spending so much time in the USA.
I have only ever worked two years in the USA in the 70’s but they pay me a pension on spousal unit’s contributions, about three times more valuable than the UK version of poverty.
It is a seriously mad world and I don’t blame the Greeks one damn bit!
Forget the pensions, buy property, much better bet in the long run.
Many of you have heard this one before. Back in the 80’s I was running a marine charter business “on the side” The enormous depreciation allowance then in force for charter boats (20% per year) resulted in very large tax losses even though the business was generating cash. I was audited for five years in a row, each time I produced my copious records and we fought to a friendly draw. The auditor’s parting shot was “Mr Wattage you have all the tax shelter any prudent man should have” I got the message.
As an observation, it seems to me that the closer one gets to the land (Oz’s example) or in my case the water the further away the concept of taxes becomes. Farmers and the like have to keep some records but watermen go out and pull stuff out of the briney and sell it. When I buy a bushel of crabs or oysters or a nice Rockfish, subjects like cash or credit and taxes are subjects that are never mentioned. I get a price much lower than that in the store and the seller gets way more than the wholesalers pay, and no receipts needed by either party.
CO: unless your friendly local council decides to seize your land for a pittance and sell it for a song to a developer interested in building a new strip mall. Or, even better, the Bank of America or Wells Fargo foreclosing on land which is paid fully and was mortgaged by another bank — if it was ever mortgaged at all.