At the beginning of this year, the tax rules were changed to now require that we get a certain level of receipts (as compared to annual income) for the goods/services we pay for. Not to prove we're spending, but to make sure those receiving the money will have to show it as taxable income. That's great, but when you go to the doctor and the payment options are in cash w/o a receipt (which means less money out of your own pocket), requesting a receipt is just not something that you are going to do. I am guilty of that on a couple of occasions. There are doctors in high rent areas who are claiming to make less than 15K a year. They couldn't pay the rent for their offices on that, much less live the life they are. There are millions of Euro's in uncollected taxes for this, as well as other hidden incomes/property values, that could help our coffers.
Not being anything near an economist, I don't have the answers - aside from making sure that every financial move is transparent and not paid in cash under the table. Of course, everyone blames the government as the leaders of the corruption, and the big money makers for not doing their share. Yet we, the commoners, are having to foot a large share of the bill to fix it all.
In a way, I am glad we're at this point right now - hopefully forcing the country to take some steps to right this. Will we become a country w/o corruption any time soon? Probably not, but we need to do something to head that direction. Perhaps our grandchildren will live in a different Greece.
Today is our 2nd big general strike in the past few weeks. Being away from the center of the city, I don't see the accompanying demonstrations first hand, so feel out of touch from the emotion that goes behind the decision to strike. I don't know all the details of what the government proposes that people are protesting, but I can't see the strikes as making a difference in what Greece must do to survive.
It's a little surreal, actually. We are all over the news internationally, and larger strikes are happening fairly frequently (with more to come) yet I don't feel in the midst of a crisis - at least not financially. No one I talk to does. The most noticeable effect so far is a jump in gas prices, up 20 cents in the matter of a week (and that's per liter, equal to over $1 increase per gallon). The strikes themselves affect me personally very little. I don't care that the tax office closes for two days, or that the museums are closed. Public transportation being on strike (busses and metro) can be a bother, but I drive to work most of the time. I do feel for foreign travelers when the airport gets closed down - it's not their fault but it becomes their problem. Oh, and the landfill closures are making for piles of garbage in some neighborhoods. Fortunately we're not seeing it on our street. There's a small blessing when the media strikes, as I don't have to deal with the news that afternoon (don't start me on the news...). I'm sure there are others who feel the strikes much more than I, especially those dependent upon public transportation.
Right now, I am just waiting for some changes to be implemented so we can buckle down, pinch some pennies, and start moving forward towards recovery for this mess. I am tired of Greece being in the news.
