Tax office eyes tables, curtains
Do you owe money to the tax office? Well, hold on to your chair, because the Finance Ministry will be coming into people’s homes to confiscate tables, couches and even curtains belonging to taxpayers who owe the state petty amounts of money. The government move is because the state says 26,165 taxpayers owe it 519 million euros while having in their posession real estate assets worth more than 5.2 billion euros. The Greek press reported yesterday that the tax office has increased efforts to boost government revenues aimed at helping get the country through its worst fiscal crisis in decades by going after even the «small fish.» A set of lounge furniture consisting of a four-seater couch, two armchairs, a table and six chairs has been scheduled for auction due to a resident in a western Athens suburb not being able to pay his 3,976-euro tax bill, reported business website euro2day.gr. «These cases prove that the Finance Ministry has begun its campaign to fight tax evasion on the wrong foot by again chasing after small fish… leaving the sharks untouched,» it added. Experts estimate that Greece’s black economy is worth about a third of the country’s 240-billion-euro gross domestic product, depriving the state of massive revenues.
