It is a never ending horror spiral of tax debts and tax collection in recession-, austerity- and overtaxation-hit Greece. While many taxpayers make arrangements with the state to pay old debts and do indeed pay the installments month in, month out, they do not manage to pay their taxes for the running year. Taxpayers’ “good will” is not enough, when income is low and pockets are empty.
“Tax debts to the Greek state hit a new record in September, reaching a total of 70.16 billion euros from 69.24 billion euros in August, the General Secretariat for Public Revenues said on Tuesday.
New debts in the January-September period came to 9.68 billion euros, added to a total shortfall of 60.48 billion dating from before 2013. in September alone, taxpayers ran up debts of 923 million euros, the secretariat said.
In the nine-month period from January to September, the state managed to collect 2.69 billion euros in arrears, or 14.16 percent, missing the target set by the troika for 2 billion euros in revenues from old debts by the end of the year and the collection of 25 percent of all new debts” (ekathimerini)
The same happen with debts to Public Power Company DEH. Debtors make arrangements and pay the installments of their old debts, but they are unable to pay the current bills.
PS We will die before we manage to pay our debts first. Growth can wait...
