Creditors say no to plan for amnesty over money abroad
Greece’s creditors, as well as the European Commission’s Task Force in the country, have told the government they will not accept its proposed measure of providing amnesty to Greeks with undeclared deposits in foreign banks in return for a one-off payment of 8 percent of the holdings’ worth.
Creditor representatives told Finance Minister Yannis Stournaras that they cannot authorize the measure without safeguarding that this will be the last such move. “In order to secure that, there should be a tax collection mechanism capable of issuing a credible threat and that will locate and catch those with untaxed deposits in foreign banks who do not opt to request amnesty status,” a member of the creditors’ technical team in Greece told Kathimerini.
“Such clauses regarding deposits have been repeatedly introduced since 2011, but are not always faithfully implemented,” a European diplomatic source told Kathimerini.
“That would constitute backtracking,” said another foreign official. Asked what he would do instead, he said he would check whether the taxpayers concerned had other properties (i.e. real estate, bank accounts etc) and proceed to confiscation up to the level of their tax debts.
