It happened in Athens in the early 1960s. A young nan parked the car of a relative outside the Chemistry on Solonos Street. When he went to pick it up ten hours later, he found the car missing its license plates and with a traffic ticket on the windshield. Having violated the Road Traffic Code, he lost the license plates for five days and would have to face the Misdemeanor Court of Athens, or if he preferred, he could pay a 180 drachma fine.
The young man out the ticket in his pocket, took the car and drove off with a smile. A friend of his knew how things worked and would help him get the license plates within the day.
He was not worried about the court because he thought that the Traffic Police could not find his details. He would not go to the Misdemeanor Court and then the case would be filed.
However, one morning about a year later, a police officer in civilian clothes knocked on the door of the house where the young man lived with his parents. He told him that he was from the Police and that he would have to follow him to pay for the traffic violation or else he would be arrested. The young man asked for a ten-day deadline claiming that he did not have the money. The police officer replied “OK, I will wait ten days for your to bring me proof that you paid the fined”. The young man thought that as per usual, the government would write off the warrants for traffic violations. He was right. A few weeks later the Queen gave birth and all traffic violations were pardoned.
This method of avoiding the consequences of traffic violations – which carried on for years – became a regular occurrence. One day the King would be celebrating, the next his wife would be giving birth – the Palace always found a way to grant pardons for minor offenses – without any major cost.
This phenomenon at the time quickly spread. Anyone paying a traffic ticket was considered a fool, more so when on top of the royal favors, politicians would receive presents from their “clients” for Christmas and Easter. Ultimately only a few fools paid the honesty tax.
The years have gone by and almost all governments have offered such presents at times. The State’s care for unfortunate small business-owners extends into a sort of reward of the tactics which the business-owners use. In general taxpayers wait for the opportunity to save money by taking advantage of tax settlements.
all know it, but now so does everyone else outside of Greece. The current government appears determined to uproot the phenomenon. The relevant minister stated that the tax settlements would be carried out based on financial and social criteria.
The political leadership has a responsibility to determine the criteria for the honest settlement of tax cases. But business-owners who have generated profits greater than those before 2009 and who have stored away all their profits cannot invoke the financial crisis to receive a discount for the confirmed debts they have towards the State.
They are not just scroungers, they are vultures!
Stavros P. Psycharis
Originally published in the Sunday print edition
