Greeks are amongst the most notorious tax dodgers in the world. Currently, Greece has about 60 billion Euros in unpaid taxes outstanding – a figure equivalent to about a quarter of its total economy. Athens decided to release a list on Sunday that published the names of some of the 4 000 known dodgers.

It was revealed last year that there are more Porsche Cayennes registered in Greece than there are taxpayers declaring an income of 50 000 euros or more, making for an interesting thought process for how these Cayennes were actually legally acquired.

The EU and the IMF have been putting more and more pressure on Athens to improve tax collection if the lenders are to continue bankrolling the debt-laden European nation.

In a move dubbed a “name-and-shame policy,” Athens decided to publish a list containing the names of thousands of tax evaders – something it has wanted to publish since last year, but couldn’t until it had changed privacy laws.

The list had been kept in a safe in parliament, where lawmakers were allowed to read it, but couldn’t take any notes about the information it contained.

The move has been seen as a positive one for Greek authorities that have increased action against tax dodgers since Lucas Papademos was named prime minister in November.

The list included the names of numerous convicted tax fraudsters and failed businessmen, as well as a prominent singer, the husband of a former government minister and a retired basketball player who’d recently been released from a two-year jail term for illegally owning a cache of arms.

Those featured on the list owe Greece about 15 billion euros.

Dimitris Mardas, an economics professor at the University of Thessaloniki, was pleased the list had been released and said: “It will also protect honest people from doing business with unreliable partners.”

Ironically, the person at the top of the list had tax arrears of 952 million euros and is already serving a 504-year prison sentence for issuing fake receipts to companies that wanted to lower their tax bills.

[Source: Reuters]