April 25, 2024

News Cymru

Two sides to every headline

Germany, UK – More Tax Evasion Than Greece, They Must Have…

It is constantly pumped out by the media worldwide that Greece has a problem with tax evasion.

I put it to you that Germany and the UK have bigger tax evasion problems than Greece.

Assuming you think tax evasion/avoidance is a criminal act then you would think the country with the highest crime rate would logically have the highest rate of tax evasion.

If you think that alleged tax evasion in a country is a sign of the criminal tendencies of a population then Germany and the UK have a higher rate of tax avoidance than Greece.

Here are the figures.

Greece: 1 crime per 25 people
Germany:  1 crime per 10 people
UK: 1 crime per 12 people

In short, there are over 2 times more criminal acts in the UK than Greece and there are 2.5 times more criminal acts in Germany than Greece.

Okay, maybe you say the UK and Germany have more career criminals so let us look at prison populations.

Greece 1 prisoner per 1000 population
Germany 1 prisoner 821 population
UK 1 prisoner per 652 population

And the figures suggest that than average criminal commits more crime in Germany and the UK than Greece but not enough to account for the differences in crime rate.

Given that tax evasion by its very nature is not recorded, any government figures on it are pure guess-work.

If you look at tax evasion as criminal then looking at crime rate would, in my opinion, be a good way of comparing tax evasion between countries.

In short, there is more criminality in the UK and Germany, ergo, there must be more tax evasion in these countries than Greece.

You may not agree with my methodology but at least I have outlined my methodology.

So before you decide to label any country’s people as “tax evaders”, think what you are basing your assertions on. What evidence do you have?

And unless the government is backing up its assertions with evidence, the government cannot be counted as a reliable source.

Get the latest updates in your inbox

I