Pillars of society or suckers?

What do tax evasion, electricity theft and illegal fuel rackets have in common, apart from the fact that they’re all crimes? They invoke the same feeling that one increasing pool of people is living at the expense of another, ever-shrinking, pool. Are those in the shrinking pool suckers, or are they the true pillars propping up our society? And is a citizen born a pillar or do they become that way?

What sense of civic duty do the 71% of self-employed professionals who declare an annual income of less than 10,000 euros have? How do thousands of businesses that have been found to be stealing electricity by the power network operator – harming conscientious consumers to the tune of around 400 million euros a year – continue to operate? And why are gas station owners found selling low-quality fuel that damages their customers’ vehicles allowed to continue doing this so brazenly?

And here’s another thing: Cross-checking by the Independent Authority for Public Revenue of the declarations of taxpayers claiming incomes of under 10,000 euros a year found – among many, many other transgressions – a gas station owner whose turnover was 509,300 euros yet he declared zero profit and paid zero tax.

Just looking at the data tells us what we already know: that the only people who pay their dues in Greece are those who can’t hide their incomes and profits (like salaried employees and pensioners). Of course, there are also those who do feel a sense of duty, who want to be conscientious, even if the Greek state delivers shoddy hospitals and an inefficient educational system in return.

By taking such a superficial view of the issue, however, we keep the state and citizens trapped in the same vicious cycle. And when this has such an impact on the country’s performance – not just on the economy, but also as an enabler of corruption and cronyism – we’re all doomed.

The government is planning to introduce new tax legislation to curtail the size and scope of the shadow economy (making it disappear altogether will never happen), with measures that will not go down well with many of its supporters. This is not negligible, though it can be tolerated by a party with such a solid majority. And if it doesn’t do this now, then when? Now, all eyes are on the opposition to see how it will react. How society reacts will also be interesting. At the end of the day, people are not born pillars of their society; they are shaped that way. And it takes hard work and sacrifices to become so. But what they get in return, if all goes well, is a better quality of life – for everyone.