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Greece Suggests Hiring Tourists as Tax Inspectors

© REUTERS / Marko DjuricaGreek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis
Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis - Sputnik International
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Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis suggests attracting non-professional inspectors, such as “students, housekeepers, even tourists” to help the country’s understaffed authorities curb tax evasion.

ATHENS (Sputnik) — Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis has sent a plan of seven key reforms to the Eurogroup’s president ahead of Monday’s meeting of Eurozone finance ministers.

In an 11-page letter to Eurogroup head Jeroen Dijsselbloem, made available Friday, Varoufakis suggests attracting non-professional inspectors, such as “students, housekeepers, even tourists” to help the country’s understaffed authorities curb tax evasion.

Following its January victory in the Greek elections, the Syriza party announced it would abandon the austerity measures imposed upon the country by the troika. - Sputnik International
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Varoufakis also seeks to license online gambling companies to increase public revenue, envisioning that “each Online Gaming Internet domain would require a license while a 5-year official Online Gaming license would require an immediate payment of €3 million”, or $3.26 million.

The Greek minister further suggests to reduce bureaucracy, “face the humanitarian crisis” by providing the poor with food stamps and shelter, improve legislation on tax arrears and budget preparation, and activate the Fiscal Council to act as an independent watchdog.

Varoufakis, economist and former private consultant for game development company Valve, assumed office as Greece’s new finance minister in January, representing the left-wing Syriza party.

Syriza has vowed to revise Greece’s highly unpopular austerity measures, aimed at meeting the bailout conditions set by international creditors in exchange for massive loans issued over the country’s sovereign debt crisis.

Greece's debt to the troika of creditors comprising the European Union, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund stands at over $260 billion.

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