Gov't Aims To Raise Revenue by Tackling Tax Fraud & Tax Evasion

The political and economic uncertainty over the past few months has apparently affected state revenues, with Greece now having to rely soley on its own sources since the government does not expect any further help and/or funds from EU or the IMF, according to Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis. The only encouraging news is that some 700 million euros returned to Greek banks after the government reached a consensus with its creditors for the extension of the loan agreement on Friday.

Faced with this new dilemma, government Vice President Yannis Dragasakis held a meeting with Minister of Finances Yanis Varoufakis, Alternate Minister of Finances Nantia Valavani, Alternate Minister of Revenue Dimitris Mardas and the Minister of Economy, Infrastructure, Shipping and Tourism George Stathakis.

Following the meeting, and while speaking to reporters, Stathakis said that the negotiations with Greece’s lenders concern the budget deficit; however, he said he was confident that it could be covered in about 2-3 months. Based on official figures, the primary surplus in January was said to be at about 1 billion less than expected, on account of a 23 percent decrease in tax revenues.

In order to reverse this, SYRIZA is determined to tackle tax evasion, by going after the names mentioned in the controversial Lagarde list. It should be reminded that the list contains the names of suspected tax evaders who have accounts at an HSBC branch in Geneva.

So far, Valavani’s combined efforts with the Minister of State for Combating Corruption Panagiotis Nikoloudis have resulted in freezing the assets of 17 individuals.

Meanwhile, the government also warned ship-owners to pay the tonnage fees which had been agreed with the previous government.