[quote=Jazzman]Last time I looked at the map Spain and Greece were still there. There’s a case to argue government wasn’t big enough to collect taxes due.[/quote]
Bingo, Jazzman.
“The machinations surrounding the Lagarde List have stoked anger among Greeks suffering through the fifth year of a grinding recession and facing another round of government spending cuts and tax increases. Athens’ efforts to crack down on tax evasion by small-time entrepreneurs and the self-employed have been publicly scorned amid the widespread perception that those with wealth and political connections aren’t sharing the pain.
Tax evasion costs Greece €28 billion, according to a study by Margarita Tsoutsoura of The University of Chicago Booth School of Business—an amount equivalent to up to 15% of the country’s gross domestic product. Many Greeks openly blame the nation’s political and business elite for having taken a fortune out of the country over the past decade. Few tax-dodging cases have been successfully prosecuted.”
