The government has taken a new step to try and put a stop to tax fraud, a national problem that affects around 23% of the country's GDP. A total of 70 billion euros of revenue are lost annually.
The bill presented yesterday will retire the limitation on taxes for payments of less than 2,500 euros and 15,000 euros for non-citizens (i.e., tourists).
Also new is the application of a preventative seizure to guarantee payment of back taxes and that the Ministry of Finance will use an old system for dealing with VAT fraud accusations. Tax experts point out that the current bill focuses on the individual taxpayer and does not pay close enough attention to major corporate accounts, which are responsible for 72% of tax fraud.
