(Don't quite know what to make of this but thought it was worth sharing.) Wealthy Greeks will benefit from a Grexit
Today Greece is one of the richest countries in the world both in terms of its per capita income and wealth. It would appear even wealthier in the international figures if the Greek informal economy is taken into consideration. As I have examined elsewhere, this wealth should be taxed, and the revenue proceeds would be more than sufficient to serve the Greek sovereign debt. There is no need for a bail out. But the wealthy Greeks do not want to pay any taxes. Most of them never did. Recently they were forced for the first time to pay a tax on their property (wealth) which was met with fierce resistance. Most of them voted for a Syriza government. Despite their left-wing rhetoric, the new government wants to abolish (it now talks about ‘reducing’) the property tax and to substitute it with an increase in the Value Added Tax which will harm poorer households. A Grexit would have made things much easier for wealthy Greeks and of course the Syriza government. As was done many times in the pre-euro years, a Greek government with a money printing machine in its hand would flood the market with inflationary national currency. An inflation tax is a boon for the wealthy, especially those who have deposits in foreign banks. Poor Greek households will therefore pay the full price for the economic crisis if a Grexit occurs. full: http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/europpblog/2015/05/27/a-grexit-would-not-be-a-catastrophe-for-all-greeks/ _______________________________________________ pen-l mailing list [email protected] https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l
