Greece has 60 billion euros in unpaid tax, EU says

Greece has at least 60 billion euros in unpaid taxes because of tax evasion and lack of compliance, the European Commission says.

Horst Reinchenbach, the head of the EU task force behind the report, told euronews half of the missing money is still being contested in the courts.

“Of this 60 billion that’s being contested, there are law cases on about half of them and there is not a final agreement on others, so the reality is only 8 billion is really immediately collectable and that is what needs to be done other the next few months.”

Estimated to be about a quarter of Greek GDP, the EU also said the problem won’t be solved overnight.

“These reforms, of course, are not to be done in a few months, the planning for achieving a concrete results will start from 2011 to 2013,” Reinchenbach added.

Greece’s total public debt is a massive 370 billion euros, or 160 percent of its annual output.

It’s the first report by the EU Commission’s Task Force which was sent to Athens to help Greek authorities identify and push through reform.

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