Greece Fails to Collect $15.5 Billion in Court-Ordered Fines

Andy Dabilis

AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris
A Greek flag flies up to the ancient Acropolis hill as tourist stand above in Athens, Thursday, July 5, 2012. Greece's international debt inspectors were delving into the troubled country's finances again Thursday after a long hiatus caused by the country's political turmoil.

ATHENS – Struggling to collect every cent and imposing pay cuts, tax hikes and slashed pensions on workers, elderly and the poor, Greece’s Finance Ministry has been unable to collect more than $15.5 billion – or 6.2 percent of the country’s whole Gross Domestic Product (GDP) – because it is understaffed and relying on paper applications instead of computers. The information was posted on the website of the ministry’s General Secretariat of Information Systems and concerned court orders after taxpayers who filed disputes had lost their cases and were ordered to pay. Most never have and are not being pursued, including the Acropolis stock brokerage company that was ordered to pay $5.9 billion but hasn’t paid a single euro.

Already a subscriber?
Sign in to read full article.
Not a subscriber?
Subscribe now and get full access!

Or... enter your email and start reading this article now:

July 06, 2012

Save article


1. Philip Vorgias wrote on July 06, 2012 9:28 AM	Utterly appalling. In a goverment AWASH in too many civil servants the Finance Ministry tax collection group is understaffed. And what's this about Courts only working a few hours a day? Get on the ball, Samaras!

2. Nicholas Kostopoulos wrote on July 06, 2012 2:50 PM	Politics as usual in Greece. Well I hope they like bankruptcy and the Drachma. They will be coming soon.

3. Philip Vorgias wrote on July 06, 2012 3:58 PM	One thing you notice about all dysfunctional organizations-including Greeces' government-is that responsibility is watered down. Nobody seems to be responsible for anything and the worst thing that can happen to a Minister is they're 'fired' from the government and go back to the legislature (at no loss of pay or benefits). When they're not subject to real dismissal or loss of their salary then what is their incentive to do the job? People in government need to be fired when they don't perform, and I mean REALLY FIRED as in no job and no salary.

4. Niko Seretis wrote on July 06, 2012 6:34 PM	If this recent wake up call wasn't enough for them I don't know what will be. How much worse can it get before they wake up?
You must sign in in order to post a comment.

Thursday, May 23, 2013 Last Update: 12:41 PM ET