I watched an interesting programme this evening called "Greek for a Week" where a fake Greek "accountant" gave advice to British workers about how to live more like their Greek counterparts for a week. This included a hairdresser who was entitled to retire at 53 because hairdressing is seen as "dangerous" job because of the chemicals, the programme paid her what she would've have got on a Greek pension scheme - the same amount as her weekly salary. When she told the "accountant" that she wanted to get back to work, she was told to do what the Greeks do - work from home and get clients to pay in cash. One man working as a bus driver in Luton was getting bonuses for turning up to work, checking tickets and basically just doing his job, which would add up to being the equivalent of earning and extra £35,000 a year. A highly paid orthopaedic surgeon was encouraged to "just not pay tax" by only declaring a portion of his wages, and when he is sorting out finances with private patients to invoice them for 40% of the price then ask for the rest in cash so they don't have to declare it.
This was just one example of what goes on in Greece, one of my favourite countries in the world! I used to go every year when I was younger to the island Kos, Greece and I love the place and the people. My family made friends out there who we went to visit each time we came back, I remember when the Euro came in and all of our Greek friends explained it would be bad for business. It turns out they were right, Greece is facing a crisis and struggling to pay back their debts.
Greece have a real challenge on their hands, to make up for their deficit not only do they have to crack down on tax evasion, they have to challenge an entire culture of early retirement, avoiding tax and bribery.
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