The bank accounts of 151 doctors suspected in tax frauds are being opened, announced the Minister of finance Georgios Papakonstantinou at the conference of the Council of Ministers. “The provocative demonstration of wealth makes us undertake new measures. We are opening the bank accounts of the suspects. It is expected that we will discover big amounts of money which have not been declared in the tax administration,” said Minister Papakonstantinou. One out of every five practicing 151 doctors in the expensive neighborhood of the capital Kolonaki declares an income under 10 thousand euro, which means they are living at the edge of poverty compared to the Greek social standard. This was the result of the cross investigation carried out by the tax authorities which was made in the middle of September last year.
As a result of this disclosure the Prime Minister George Papandreou threatened that detailed investigations will be carried out for the cases where financial frauds are suspected and the ones who are guilty will be punished and send in prison. Almost five months later, after a series of verifications malpractices were discovered in 80 offices of doctors from Kolonaki. The main violations of the law which the tax authorities have registered were corrupt registering of the number of the patients and accepting payments “under the table”, without issuing any financial document. The most shocking case however of three practicing doctors who have declared in the tax offices a net annual income between 300 euro and 1002 euro for the past year. Currently there are no arrested doctors for making tax violations, as the Prime Minister promised in the beginning of this year.
The head office of Information systems in the Ministry of finance examines 24 professional categories (including the doctors), who have a tradition in the incorrect tax accounting. Among them are mainly representatives of the liberal professions in the field of services like lawyers, architects, engineers, journalists freelancers, repair groups and other private entrepreneurs. In the official program of the new government as a main priority is stipulated the corruption and tax frauds control. The first measure which the new government of PASOK introduced was the including of the receipts in the tax forms as a proof for the expenses made throughout the year. In this way the citizens themselves are becoming a controlling body by making the trader/entrepreneur issue the mandatory financial documents. The second important step is a change in the taxation of the categories which until now were paying a fixed tax (owners of taxis, newspaper kiosks, gas stations), regardless of their annual turnover. From the ministry of finance are saying that the introduction of the accounting style of taxation (according to the incomes received and expenses made) in all categories and professions will provide a more clear picture on the real incomes of the tax payers. The third main basis on which is built the tax frauds control is the improvement of the efficiency of the control bodies. About this matter the Greek public is still waiting for the specific action on the part of the government.