BoG Gov. Stournaras: Tax evasion in Greece remains a major problem

Tax evasion and avoidance remains an “open sore” plaguing the country’s economy and state finances, Bank of Greece (BoG) Gov. Yannis Stournaras again warned on Monday.

In a radio interview, the influential Greek central banker said that despite whatever progress has been made to stamp out the problem, Greece remains at Europe’s unenviable top spot in terms of tax evasion.

He said even better results are possible with the «decisive intervention» by the now independent tax authority.

“Of course, there are objective reasons why tax evasion in Greece is greater than the rest of Europe. We have numerous SMEs, which are not easy to monitor…but there are opportunities to increase revenue, without even increasing tax rates. I believe that electronic transactions, for instance, provide an opportunity for this,” he underlined.