Greece to Form Group of Wise Guys to Fight Tax Evasion

Greece is planning to crack down on its tax evasion problem with a committee of wise guys. No, seriously, that's their plan.

Greece is planning to crack down on its tax evasion problem with a committee of wise guys. No, seriously, that's their plan.

We're not sure what the qualifications are. Kathimerini reports the country's government plans to form the new committee around the former head of National Bank, Vassilis Rapanos. (He hasn't officially accepted the position... yet.) He will head up the "committee of wise men" that plans to try and curb the country's near crippling tax evasion problem. So, yeah, they aren't recruiting the guys from Goodfellas or anything, as effective as they might be.

Tax evasion is a very serious financial problem in the country with the most very serious finacial problems in Europe. The European Union's tax chief recently said Greece could add five percent to its GDP if it was able to successfully adopt serious tax reform. Or, to put it another way, Greece could add 10 billion Euros in annual budget revenue. Mamma mia! That's a lot of revenue.

If Greece can succeed at reforming its tax code and fixing the tax evasion problem, it will at least make its creditors happy. Greece recently had to renegotiate its loans with European creditors. The deal saw lowered interest rates and expectations for Greece's ability to pay back what they owe. The amount they owe, for the record, grew by 50 billion euros just last week.