纽约时报：希腊的财富无处不在，除了报税单上

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　　雅典 - 在这座城市富裕的北郊，夏日的气温常常高达华氏90多度。这里仅有324位居民在报税单上的“是否拥有游泳池”一栏划了勾。
　　税务调查人员研究了该地区的卫星照片 - 发现很多奢华的别墅矗立在高门之后 - 得出的关于游泳池数量的准确结论是：16,974座。
　　这样大规模地虚报财产，以及其它令人吃惊的、由媒体曝光出来的案例，其实只不过是这里长期存在的逃税现象的真实写照。
　　如此这般的逃税行为在希腊债务危机中扮演了至关重要的角色。在整个国家全力以赴扭转混乱的金融局面的时候，政府也在前所未有地审查着偷税漏税的行径。
　　包括由希腊产业联合会去年所做的调查在内的多项研究表明，逃税行为大约为希腊政府带来了多达300亿美元的损失，这个数字本身大大超过了解决本轮债务难题所需要的资金。
　　“我们需要成长”，Ioannis Plakopoulos说道，他和其他所有的书报摊老板一样，不得不遵循上月刚刚通过的新的税法，向顾客出具收据并且启用收银机。“我们需要学会不再偷税，也不再让别人偷税”。
　　国际货币基金组织出台的紧急财政援助计划注定会给希腊人带来不小的牺牲，包括非常严格的节俭方案、裁员以及飙升的税率，许多人表示，这场把整个国家推到破产边缘的金融危机，某种程度上改正了他们的生活方式。
　　不过即便如此，改变并不是轻而易举就可以完成的。专家们指出，逃税现象其实是这里根深蒂固的贿赂和腐败文化的一部分。
　　Plakopoulos先生支持政府新方案中的绝大多数部分，不过他也承认，他和他的朋友们过去常常为自己巧妙的逃税手段而暗自得意。
　　为了在该国的医疗体系中得到更多的关怀，希腊人通常会在私下向医生支付现金，这一现象被称作“fakelaki”，也就是希腊语中“小信封”的意思。而向政府官员们贿赂，以期摆脱官僚主义的纠缠，也已经成为了一种常态，人们甚至清楚地知道所需的价格。比方说，300欧元（大约400美元），就可以拿到一个通过汽车排放检查的标签。
　　专家们表示，一些更加有野心的逃税者其实是个体经营者。在这样一个小企业盛行的国度，该群体的成员相当多。它不经包括出租车司机、餐馆老板和电工师傅，还有工程师、建筑师、律师和医生。
　　偷税漏税的行为常常很大胆。税务官员们最近调查了雅典时尚街区Kolonaki内的150名医生的收入状况。在这个拥有Prada和Chanel商店的街区里，调查人员们发现，一半以上的医生们宣称自己的收入不到40,000美元，34位自称收入不足13,300美元，这个数字刚好是不需要缴纳任何税收的临界点。
　　“这样的收入颠覆了信仰”，本轮税法改革的负责人、财政部秘书长Ilias Plaskovitis评价道，“这样的收入甚至还不够你支付这儿的房租呢”。
　　Plaskovitis表示，全国1100万居民中，只有几千位表示他们去年的年收入超过了132,000美元，不过到处都是财富横溢的迹象。
　　“在这个国家，许多人拥有独立别墅或是农家小舍，拥有两辆车甚至是一艘小船，却声称自己的年收入是12,000欧元”，Plaskovitis先生说道，这大约是15,900美元。“如果你的收入真的是那样的话，你甚至无法为房子供暖，汽油钱也会是个问题”。
　　希腊政府制定了一个在Plaskovitis先生看来还算是温和的目标，政府计划本年度的税收总额要比去年增加至少16亿美元。不过Plaskovitis先生表示，欧盟的官员们对此很是怀疑，以至于他们在关于紧急财政援助方案的协商中，甚至不允许这一数字出现在预算预测中。
　　“他们说，'是的，是的，我们以前也听到过类似的说法，但是这从来都没有实现过'”，Plaskovitis先生这样描述道。
　　过去的十年间，希腊在税收方面已经落后了不少，即便是经济景气的时候亦是如此。欧盟2008年的一份关于希腊税收漏洞的报告显示，在2000年到2007年之间，希腊的名义国内生产总值的平均增长率为每年8.25%，然而税收总额的增长却仅为每年7%。
　　希腊陷入如今这般情形的原因尚不明朗。一些人把它归咎于希腊长期被土耳其占领的历史背景，这一历史情形使得希腊人大多对政府心存敌意。也有人指出，且不论历史原因，希腊事实上是一个相对年轻的民主国家。
　　反腐败组织“透明国际”（Transparency International）希腊分支的主席Kostas Bakouris表示，无论是怎样的原因，希腊人一直面临着琐碎的腐败行为的诱惑。“如果他们前往汽车修理行的话，不要发票是一个价格，索要发票则会是另外一个价格，而且后者要比前者高很多”。
　　Bakouris说他自己的妹妹告诉他，她实在是有点不习惯向医生索要收据。“这个有点不合常理”，Bakouris说道，“不过不好意思跟医生要发票的感觉很普遍”。
　　多项研究的结论证明，希腊的影子经济大概占到了其国民生产总值的百分之20到30。约翰开普勒林茨大学（Johannes Kepler University of Linz）经济系主任Friedrich Schneider主要研究的是欧洲的影子经济。他表示，去年希腊的影子经济占国民生产总值的25%，今年预计将会增加到25.2%，而美国的影子经济则只占其国民生产总值的7.8%。
　　财政部相信，新的税法增加了所得税与增值税的比重，也为更加有效的执行奠定了法律基础。过去的免税法则让许多行业的从业人员拥有了特权。在某些行业中，整个行业被允许使用同一个固定的收入来申报税收。例如，所有书报摊的经营者可以在报税单上宣称自己的收入为12,000欧元（大约15,900美元），而不会被质疑。
　　如今，绝大多数的特权已经不复存在，免税法则也在被简化。同时，政府也在采取多项措施，鼓励人们索要收据 - 官员们相信这是很重要的一步，压缩黑市经济。
　　此外，税务部门也正在进行重组，地方税务分支机构的自治权降低了很多。
　　Plaskovitis先生表示，税务官们已经开始运用科技手段交叉校核报税声明，采取的措施包括从豪华车的代理商那里拿到客户名单。他说道，很多希腊人在报税时把豪华车列为交通车，不过今后再想这么做的话可能就不那么容易了。“我们不相信你需要一辆保时捷去售卖可口可乐”，Plaskovitis先生说道。
　　Plaskovitis先生相信，人们很快会看到新的税法所带来的成效。“接下来几周中”，他说道，“我们将会关闭一些公司、餐馆和诊所，原因是他们在偷税漏税”。
　　但是进展会有多快依然是个未决的问题。变革已经在一些范围内引发了抗议和不满。例如，60岁的公立医院医生联合会主席Stathis Tsoukalos，认为医生们失去缴税特权是错误的和不公正的。他坚持道，医生们所享有的低税率特权其实是为了补偿他们非常低的收入水平。
　　在谈到那些在报税单上填写低收入的Kolonaki街区的医生们的时候，Tsoukalos表示，他们可能刚刚开始在那里经营，或是在父母的资助下购买了那里的房产。
　　而这个国家的税务官员们能否胜任，也尚不明朗。许多希腊人认为，税务官员一向是最容易贿赂的群体。一些人觉得事关税收的争议通常可以由这样的“三项分割”来解决：向政府支付三分之一的应缴税款，向税收官支付三分之一，然后余下的三分之一便进了你自己的口袋。
　　Froso Stavraki在税收领域工作了27年，如今是工会里的高级官员，她毫不迟疑地承认税收体系中的确存在腐败现象。但她同时辩解道，政客们从来都没有真正计划过强硬措施。
　　“上面的要求是每日都需要进行税收数据处理”，她说道，“我们整日忙着检查表格，与那些纳税人核对信息，根本来不及管那些没交税的”。

英文原文：


May 1, 2010
Greek Wealth Is Everywhere but Tax Forms
By SUZANNE DALEY
ATHENS — In the wealthy, northern suburbs of this city, where summer temperatures often hit the high 90s, just 324 residents checked the box on their tax returns admitting that they owned pools.
So tax investigators studied satellite photos of the area — a sprawling collection of expensive villas tucked behind tall gates — and came back with a decidedly different number: 16,974 pools.
That kind of wholesale lying about assets, and other eye-popping cases that are surfacing in the news media here, points to the staggering breadth of tax dodging that has long been a way of life here.
Such evasion has played a significant role in Greece’s debt crisis, and as the country struggles to get its financial house in order, it is going after tax cheats as never before.
Various studies, including one by the Federation of Greek Industries last year, have estimated that the government may be losing as much as $30 billion a year to tax evasion — a figure that would have gone a long way to solving its debt problems.
“We need to grow up,” said Ioannis Plakopoulos, who like all owners of newspaper stands will have to give receipts and start using a cash register under the new tax laws passed last month. “We need to learn not to cheat or to let others cheat.”
On the eve of an International Monetary Fund bailout deal that is sure to call for deep sacrifices here, including harsh austerity measures, layoffs and steep tax increases, many Greeks say they feel chastened by the financial crisis that has pushed the country to the edge of bankruptcy.
But even so, changing things will not be easy. Experts point out that ducking taxes is part of a broader culture of bribery and corruption that is deeply entrenched.
Mr. Plakopoulos, who supports most of the government’s new efforts, admits that he and his friends used to chuckle over the best ways to avoid taxes.
To get more attentive care in the country’s national health system, Greeks routinely pay doctors cash on the side, a practice known as “fakelaki,” Greek for little envelope. And bribing government officials to grease the wheels of bureaucracy is so standard that people know the rates. They say, for instance, that 300 euros, about $400, will get you an emission inspection sticker.
Some of the most aggressive tax evaders, experts say, are the self-employed, a huge pool of people in this country of small businesses. It includes not just taxi drivers, restaurant owners and electricians, but engineers, architects, lawyers and doctors.
The cheating is often quite bold. When tax authorities recently surveyed the returns of 150 doctors with offices in the trendy Athens neighborhood of Kolonaki, where Prada and Chanel stores can be found, more than half had claimed an income of less than $40,000. Thirty-four of them claimed less than $13,300, a figure that exempted them from paying any taxes at all.
Such incomes defy belief, said Ilias Plaskovitis, the general secretary of the Finance Ministry, who has been in charge of revamping the country’s tax laws. “You need more than that to pay your rent in that neighborhood,” he said.
He said there were only a few thousand citizens in this country of 11 million who last year declared an income of more than $132,000. Yet signs of wealth abound.
“There are many people with a house, with a cottage in the country, with two cars and maybe a small boat who claim they are earning 12,000 euros a year,” Mr. Plaskovitis said, which is about $15,900. “You cannot heat this house or buy the gas for the car with that kind of income.”
The Greek government has set a goal for itself of collecting at least $1.6 billion more than last year — a modest goal, Mr. Plaskovitis believes. But European Union officials were so skeptical, Mr. Plaskovitis said, they would not even allow the figure to be included in the budget forecast used in negotiations over the bailout package.
“They said, ‘Yes, yes, we have heard that before, but it never happens,’ ” he said.
Over the past decade, Greece actually lost ground in collecting taxes, even as the economy was booming. A 2008 European Union report on Greece tax shortfalls found that between 2000 and 2007, the country’s average growth in nominal gross domestic product was 8.25 percent. Its taxes grew at just 7 percent.
How Greece ended up with this state of affairs is a matter of debate here. Some attribute it to Greece’s long history under Turkish occupation, when Greeks got used to seeing the government as an enemy. Others point out that, classical history aside, Greece is actually a relatively young democracy.
Whatever the reason, Kostas Bakouris, the president of the Greek arm of the anticorruption organization Transparency International, said that Greeks were constantly facing the lure of petty corruption. “If they go to the mechanic, it is one price without a receipt and quite a bit more with it,” Mr. Bakouris said.
He said his own sister had recently told him that she was uncomfortable asking her doctor for a receipt. “I said that’s crazy,” he said. “But still, that feeling is out there.”
Various studies have concluded that Greece’s shadow economy represented 20 to 30 percent of its gross domestic product. Friedrich Schneider, the chairman of the economics department at Johannes Kepler University of Linz, studies Europe’s shadow economies; he said that Greece’s was at 25 percent last year and estimated that it would rise to 25.2 percent in 2010. For comparison, the United States’ was put at 7.8 percent.
The Finance Ministry believes that the new tax laws, which also increased the weight on income and value-added taxes, have laid the legal groundwork for better enforcement. In the past, the tax code gave many categories of workers special status. Entire professions were allowed to file a set income. For instance, newsstand owners could simply claim that they earned an income of 12,000 euros (about $15,900) and no questions were asked.
Now, most of these exceptions have been eliminated and the tax code has been simplified. It also offers various incentives to make people collect receipts — an important step, officials say, in shrinking the off-the-books economy.
In addition, the tax department is being reorganized so that regional offices will have far less autonomy.
Mr. Plaskovitis said that tax collectors had already begun using technology to crosscheck claims and that they had taken steps like asking luxury car dealerships for list of their clients. A lot of Greeks, he said, listed luxury cars as company cars, a practice that would be challenged in the future. “We do not believe you need a Porsche to sell Coca-Cola,” he said.

Soon, Mr. Plaskovitis said, people will see results. “In the coming weeks,” he said, “we are going to be closing down companies, restaurants and doctors’ offices because they have not paid taxes.”
But how fast progress will come is an open question. The changes have provoked protests and deep resentment in some circles. For instance, the president of the union for doctors who work in state hospitals, Stathis Tsoukalos, 60, calls the loss of a special tax status for his doctors wrongheaded and unfair. He contended that the special low tax rate was given to make up for the fact that doctors received very low pay.
Speaking of the doctors in the Kolonaki neighborhood who claimed small incomes, he said, they may have just opened their practices or bought real estate there with help from their parents.
Whether the country’s tax collectors are up to the task is also unclear. Many Greeks say tax collectors have a reputation for being among the easiest officials to bribe. Some say tax troubles are usually solved in a three way split: You pay a third of what you owe to the government, a third to the collector and a third remains in your pocket.
Froso Stavraki, who has been a tax collector for 27 years and is now a high-ranking official in the union, readily concedes that there is some corruption in the ranks. But she contends that the politicians never wanted toughness.
“The orders from above were to do everyday tax processing,” she said. “We were busy going over forms, checking on those who pay taxes, not those who didn’t.”
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