IMF chief was right says Greek tax investigator

Page last updated at 03:31 GMT, Friday, June 8, 2012 - 08:31 EST

AFP:

Lagarde said the Greeks could help themselves "by all paying their tax"

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International Monetary Fund chief Christine Lagarde was right to urge Greeks to pay their taxes since that could help solve Athens' current difficulties, the country's top tax investigator said Friday.

"I agree wholeheartedly with Ms. Lagarde," the head of the Greek tax authority SDOE, Nikos Lekkas, told German daily Die Welt.

"Tax evasion in Greece amounts to 12-15 percent of gross domestic product. That's 40-45 billion euros ($50-56 billion) each year. If we could raise even just half of that, Greece's problems would be solved," Lekkas said.

But there has to be the political will to achieve that, he added.

"Our politicians have begun to understand this," Lekkas said.

Read the whole story: AFP