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| Baghdad Walkabout: On the Other Side of the River A former U.S. soldier takes a ride on the Tigris and stops for tea in a shop reconstructed after 2007 blast feedproxy.google.com |
Band plays wrong song at state visit A military band in Norway has played the wrong tune during a state visit by the Swiss president in Oslo. bbc.co.uk |
Greece promises to crack down on tax evaders Saying Greeks had already made "unprecedented sacrifices", the prime minister, George Papandreou, insisted today there would be no more hard-hitting austerity measures, despite the country bracing itself for an expected upward revision of a budget deficit that at 13.6% has already hit record highs."Whatever happens, there will be no additional burden placed on wage earners and pensioners. There will be no additional increase in tax rates beyond the ones we have already committed to making," Papandreou said.His pledge came as the battle to boost the debt-stricken nation's state revenues took a new turn, with officials promising an unprecedented crackdown on tax evasion – the practice that more than any other has helped push the country to the brink of bankruptcy."Greece is a poor state with rich people," Yannis Kapeleris, who heads the recently revived financial crimes unit, SDOE, told the Guardian. "For too long, authorities have let evaders get away with it. Now we're going to be merciless and we're going to start with the big fish."Last month more than 1 million Greek tax dodgers were offered the prospect of an amnesty for violations amounting to more than €30bn (£26bn). The government expects to raise about €500m by offering a summary settlement of unaudited filings and arrears going back 10 years.It also vowed to put tax declarations online for public perusal. This week SDOE declared that MPs were among the worst offenders.The deficit for 2009 is expected to exceed 15% of GDP, according to leaks from the European statistics agency, Eurostat.Under pressure from the EU and IMF – which earlier in the year extended €110bn worth of emergency loans to Greece to stave off bankruptcy - the socialist government had promised to slash the budget deficit to less than 3% by 2013.With Athens's ambitious fiscal consolidation programme now harder to achieve, the hunt for tax evaders has become even more pressing.For the first time, said Kapeleris, SDOE inspectors will be knocking at the door of the nation's well off - Greeks with huge homes, private pools, superyachts and secret bank accounts abroad."All those with inexplicable wealth," he added. "The doctors and lawyers, architects, construction companies, singers, civil engineers … people who have bank accounts with millions of euros, deposits that just don't add up."Using Google Earth, the unit recently announced it had discovered some 50,000 "undeclared" swimming pools as well as tracing the owners of an estimated 2,500 state-of-the-art pleasure boats moored in marinas around the capital. Politicians with power cruisers costing as much as €1.5m, but which have never appeared on tax returns, have been outed.Bank accounts abroad have also been targeted as Papandreou, in an unprecedented step, has taken the fight against tax evasion beyond Greek borders."We have opened bank accounts in Liechtenstein and plan to open others in Switzerland and the City of London," Kapeleris said. "We have discovered deposits that make the mind boggle, huge amounts that simply do not correspond to professed professional activity."Luxury villas on far-flung islands – some belonging to Britons and other foreign nationals – that were rented without ever being declared had similarly been unearthed. "We have been in touch with tax authorities in the UK and other EU states," he said. "Some of these villas are rented for tens of thousands of euros a month."In a country where the black market economy has been estimated to account for nearly 30% of GDP, an estimated €30bn goes untaxed annually.While the government has been praised for its determination to push through draconian austerity measures in the teeth of popular opposition, it still faces a revenue shortfall of €1.5bn this year. The budget black hole has been attributed mostly to the failure to eradicate tax avoidance.In a report guaranteeing a second, €9bn instalment of loans in August, the IMF insisted that the austerity-hit nation needed to see wealthy tax dodgers punished. Lack of progress, it said, could provoke further austerity measures which, in turn, could fuel more social unrest as the government tries to rein in the country's massive €300bn debt.The crackdown has met resourceful resistance. Greeks have invested in camouflage or grass nets to hide swimming pools from the spies in space; for sale signs have begun to appear on yachts.With the revenue shortfall assuming alarming proportions, tax evaders have been offered an unprecedented 10-year amnesty in lieu of a one-off levy, as part of efforts to deal with a massive backlog of tax evasion cases currently before the courts.It is hoped the clean bill of health will not only change a tax system that has allowed dodgers to "take refuge" in infinite court proceedings but pave the way to Greeks acquiring a relationship of mutual trust with tax authorities."There has to be a new start," said Papandreou. "There are 2.5 million unaudited tax filings stretching over a decade."At the financial crimes unit, Kapeleris is in bullish mood: "Our goal is to collect penalties of up to €5bn euros this year. We are issuing on-the-spot fines. The era of indifference is over. For the first time there is the political will to deal with this problem. We are coming after them all."EuropeEuropean debt crisisGreeceHelena Smithguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
Karzai seeks list of aid projects needing security By KATHARINE HOURELD 2010-10-24T15:21:50ZKABUL, Afghanistan (AP) -- The Afghan president asked Sunday for a list of national aid projects that need protection by private security guards, potentially signaling his wish to reach a compromise over the status of security companies in Afghanistan and safeguard foreign aid projects worth billions of dollars.... hosted.ap.org |
Afghan police officer kills 6 US service members KABUL, Afghanistan (AP (AP) -- An Afghan border policeman killed six American servicemen during a training mission Monday, underscoring one of the risks in a U.S.-led program to educate enough recruits to turn over the lead for security to Afghan forces by 2014.... hosted.ap.org |