TAX AND SHOE BOXES IN GREECE. EVEN THE HOMELESS HAVE TO PAY IN GREECE!

AN OLDER ARTICLE TRANSLATED FROM OKEANEWS, 06/06/12

Greeks don’t pay their taxes. Those scroungers want nothing more than to annoy Europe by wanting to stay in the Eurozone without paying the price….

Those Greeks live a life of Riley as they pocket European aid, refuse to pay their fair share, don’t pay their taxes and set fire to their capital city, whilst being the first to complain about their standard of living….

 Shoe box:

 

With the aim of “fighting fraud”, the Greek state, under the expert guidance of the Troïka, has had the brilliant idea of asking the citizens to prove their expenses by supplying proof of their purchases (receipts). Each citizen must therefore prove expenses amounting to 25% of their revenues in order to avoid paying a 10% fine on the 25%. Yes, it’s rather complicated.  But more importantly, these proofs of purchase will be sent to the tax office with the tax return. For a service already bled dry by budget cuts, this means that the officials are therefore going to have to pass their time checking the receipts. Very intelligent!

I still remember a friend showing me a shoe box, full of receipts and saying to me “do you realize what we have come to? This is totally ridiculous - it’s driving me crazy”

 Homeless: You too must pay

Even more perversely, with the Greek State considering that a single person needs a minimum of 3000 € per year to survive, it therefore considers that each citizen must have at least 3000€ of annual income (I invite you all to reflect on this assumption). The State therefore expects to see proofs of purchase for a minimum of 25% of 3000€, in other words the existence of a minimum of 750€ worth of receipts. And, should you be unable to produce these proofs (having no income, no place of abode, like more than 20000 Athenians since the start of the crisis), but you chose to declare your taxes anyway, you will have to pay a 10% fine on this 750€, which equates to 75€ (with an advance of 55%, or 41.25€.) In other words, if you are a homeless person without income, you have to pay anyway.

Of course, the example of a homeless person is an extreme case. Let us apply therefore the same calculation to a single person of the middle classes. As it happens, the salary of middle class stands at around 800€ per month ( according to the experience of friends who have seen their salary reduced by 40% this year – at least for those for those who get paid at all). With 9600€ of annual income and a little car, you end up with 9600 + 4000 = 13600 € of declared income. You therefore have to produce 3400 € to avoid having to pay a fine amounting to 10% of this 3400€ (the famous 25%), making 340€. The total tax for 13600 €of annual income is 688€, for a net income of 800 € per month. To end up paying this same amount in France, you would have to earn…. 14579€ per year, or a net monthly salary of 1206€.

So, my dear friends, when I hear Mme. Lagarde and others still dare to say that the Greeks, on top of being lazy fraudsters, don’t pay any taxes, then, quite frankly, I no longer feel like being courteous…..