Talks with Swiss on deposit tax
Greek authorities are in talks with their Swiss counterparts on a deal — expected to be ready by the end of the year — aimed at taxing billions of euros? worth of bank deposits believed to be held by Greek tax evaders in Swiss accounts.
The deal would be modeled on similar agreements Switzerland signed recently with Britain and Germany, Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos said in a statement Sunday, three days after ministry officials traveled to Bern to agree on a framework for a bilateral pact. According to that framework, Greeks with deposits in Swiss banks would have two choices: Either they reveal to Greek authorities the balance of their accounts or they will be forced to pay a tax at a rate that would apply had the amount been declared as income in Greece. According to Reuters, the Swiss authorities would forward the tax revenue to their Greek counterparts on an anonymous basis.
Venizelos expressed optimism that the pact would help Greece crack the major problem of high-level tax evasion and raise revenues to curb the country?s gaping budget deficit.
?Greece will be able to collect a significant amount of taxes evaded over many years, and be able to access information that will allow us to locate blatant cases of tax evasion,? he said. ?It is a very significant development that the negotiations with Switzerland are entering the final phase,? he added.
Greeks hold an estimated 200 billion euros in Swiss bank accounts, a sum believed to include some of the widespread tax evasion indulged in by affluent Greeks.
In a separate development over the weekend, it emerged that six out of 10 Greeks have a negative view of a European Union deal reached last week to reduce the country?s debt, fearing that it will harm national sovereignty.
According to a poll carried out by To Vima, 58.9 percent of Greeks see the 50 percent writedown on Greek debt as negative while nearly two-thirds said they felt fear or anger at the EU debt pact.
