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Where has all the Greek money gone?
Published: 22 November, 2011, 13:58
AFP Photo / Louisa Gouliamaki
TAGS: Crisis, Budget, Government Spending, Finance
The Greeks have been rushing to get squirrel their money anywhere but in Greece. A European Union task force suggests as much as 60 billion Euros have escaped to Swiss banks this year – much of it unpaid taxes.
The task force will be helping Greece broker an agreement with Switzerland to repatriate these funds but one EU official says only half of the money is “theoretically recoverable” while just 6-8 billion euros can be quickly obtained.
This comes as part of the new Greek government’s effort to inject some cash into the country’s budget. With estimates of Greek wealth in Swiss accounts varying from tens of billions to over 200 billion euros, the idea of bringing that cash back home isn’t the panacea the country is looking for.
The Government has also started an operation aimed at cracking down on tax evaders. Arrests have already been made. However, many like construction magnate Panagiotis Panousis, say the Greek government also owes them money so their tax evasion is something of a tit for tat. Mind you the sums involved are huge, anything up to 2 million Euros.
But tax avoidance is not the only driving force behind the capital flight. It is also a matter of financial security for Greek businessmen. Keeping savings in Greece puts them in jeopardy should there be a default and the country be forced to leave the Euro.
However, the country’s complex tax system doesn’t help. Despite being the second biggest contributor to Greece’s GDP the shipping industry is one of those businesses exempt from tax. The sector brought 15.4bn Euros into the economy in 2010, so there’s probably some room for taxation.
21.11.2011, 20:06
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22.11.2011, 14:39
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It is not a secret that Greek had been attacked for months before its economy finally got broken. The whole action has been led by some big Wall Street financial houses in connivance with White House, and the main goal was to prevent "escape from dollar" worldwide. Those who would get away from dollar would primarily turn to Euro, so the goal was to undermine the Eurozone economies and thus to make Euro less attractive. Therefore, the Greek crisis, and, in particular, the Italian crisis are artificial in nature.
The US strategy of "launching a war at anyone who dares to leave the dollar" cannot be successful for long, so what we are just witnessing is a swan song of the American empire.
Thats why Gaddafi went down because he planned to have turned to Euro. That explains why Russia and China haven't helped Gaddafi a bit, because both countries posses large dollar reserves. Creating economic chaos all around is an American agenda as Americans hope that would prevent key financial players to leave the dollar. If the dollar is not the main reserve currency America is broken down in terms of minutes, as it cannot live anymore without borrowing some huge amounts of money on the daily basis.
Everybody knows that where all of the extra money goes.
If people like to know about money routes of the Greek money goes, he or she has to follow money routes of the Greek.
This is small part. The big one is still behind.
Need to know where is the big one. Have to find out it "where all of the Greek gone"
Yes lets blame it all on America. It has nothing to do with OVER-SPENDING and UNION entitlements. Why create a budget when you can blame everything in the world on America and the American people. What fools you are!