They are hiring private employees in the Tax service

The government is forcing tax office employees to delegate powers and responsibilities to private company employees or public officials in other ministries.

It is not the first time that the government has tried to bypass the state tax mechanism. This time, though, it seems that things have already been decided. The first people that will fall under this category are the directors-general of the ministry, who will answer to a private auditing firm that the Finance Ministry intends to hire in order to clean up tax authorities.

As revealed in September by PROTO THEMA, the Finance Minister is preparing to hire an auditing firm as a private consultant at the ministry, with 2.5 million as payment. They will collaborate with the Secretary of the Treasury, bypassing the director-general. This “hybrid” group will have access to services data and will provide guidance for monitoring and collecting revenue.

The declaration drawn up by the General Secretariat of Information Systems refers to the “failure of the tax administration (word for word), in combating tax evasion.

Although the authority will have an advisory role at first, the private company executives will be assimilated by the state mechanism, taking the reigns of designing the mechanism’s evolved and transitional form, into a new system that they will propose.

At the same time, as revealed in the Sunday edition of PROTO THEMA, the Finance Minister’s intention is to take away the tax employees’ right to exact tax audits. It also defines that one quarter of tax services belong to other ministries working in tandem with tax employees.

Thus, hundreds of inspectors will return to administrative duties, and tax audits may be carried out by officials from other ministries, such as the Ministries of Marine Affairs, Civil Protection etc.

In fact, protothema.gr has been informed that very strong reactions from the tax industry are beginning to form, lobbying so that the leadership of the Ministry does not venture to proceed with this plan.

The decisions revealed within the week by the Minister of Finance will be reflected in the new tax bill, which he will submit to a Parliament vote.