On an
unremarkable morning on Stournari street in downtown Athens, just a few blocks
away from the epicenter of every riot the city has seen during its recent
crisis years, two men of Asian origin politely and openly hawk cigarettes to
passersby.
As Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras walks
another tightrope between creditor demands for additional belt tightening and a
social backlash, the scene exposes an unhealthy truth: Greeks could smoke,
drink and gamble their way out of their next financial hole, if only they were
taxed on all of it.
“Illicit cigarette and bulk tobacco trade
strips the Greek state from significant revenue each year that could be used
for paying pensions, salaries, and social benefits,” said Iakovos Kargarotos,
vice-president of Philip Morris International’s affiliate in Greece,
Papastratos AVES. “It creates a big public revenue hole that taxpayers have to
fill.”
More than 4 billion illegal cigarettes are
being sold in Greece each year, according to the latest data from Papastratos.
Based on the roughly 85 percent tax on a pack of 20, the duty alone would have
brought 670 million euros of annual revenue. That’s more than the increase in
employee contributions to pensions that triggered the latest wave of
demonstrations and tear gas in Athens last week.
The R.G.D. smokes appear to originate from
China, but others come from Egypt and Pakistan, reaching Greece by sea on
“ghost ships” and making the country a major hub for the illegal trade just as
border patrols are overwhelmed by the flow of refugees from Syria.
Some local tobacco farmers also sell bulk
leaves, untaxed, directly to consumers, even openly over the Internet. It goes
for 25 euros a kilogram, according to one advertisement.
Greece has one of the highest rates of
smoking in the world. It costs more than 3 billion euros a year in hospital
treatment to lost working hours, Kostas Athanasakis, a researcher at Greece’s
National School of Public Health, estimated.
Take the local moonshine: about 24 million
liters of untaxed tsipouro, a traditional spirit from grape marc, are being
consumed every year in Greece, according to local distiller Kostas Tsililis. It
results in an annual tax loss of at least 200 million euros.
Greek law allows the production of it
locally in uncontrolled steel vats, under 48-hour licensing, and the bulk sale
of the popular spirit under a preferential tax rate. The fact that no bottling
is required means that there’s way to keep track, Tsililis said.
“It’s the only comestible product that’s
legally sold without any control,” he said. “They prefer to cut grandma’s
pension, rather than touch smugglers.”
Πηγή:
bloomberg.com
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