About one fifth (20.9%) of the Gross Domestic Product of the country amounts, according to estimates, to its size underground economy in Greece, as stated by the governor of the Bank of Greece, Giannis Stournaras, speaking at the 19th Tax Forum. As he argued, the problem of tax evasion is one of the most important that economies face internationally.
In Greece, despite the fact that it is difficult to estimate the exact size of tax evasion, numerous studies show that the problem is much more acute than in other countries.
Consequently, as he pointed out, the fight against tax evasion and a fairer distribution of tax burdens should be made a priority. In his speech, the head of the Tax Administration cited data from the AADE which demonstrate that the categories that are relatively more prone to tax evasion are mainly the self-employed and very small businesses, which is more or less the case in all countries of the world.
However, as he added tax evasion is also observed and indirect taxationas for 2020, Greece has the fourth highest VAT revenue lag or VAT gap (VAT gap) in the EU, equal to 19.7% of potential VAT revenue (or 3 billion euros).
