Tax evasion amounts to missed opportunities for Greece, minister says

Tax evasion not only diverts public revenues but also represents missed opportunities for Greece, newly appointed Finance Minister Kyriakos Pierrakakis said on Friday.

“Tax evasion undermines social justice and deprives education, healthcare, and infrastructure of valuable resources,” Pierrakakis said.

Emerging from his first meeting with Giorgos Pitsilis, director of the Independent Authority for Public Revenue (AADE), Pierrakakis highlighted that the fight against tax evasion is progressing day by day through a combination of human effort and advanced technological tools.

“AADE is leveraging both highly trained staff and modern tools, including Artificial Intelligence and the new state-of-the-art operations center,” Pierrakakis noted.

He also noted that additional tax revenues in 2024, driven by a reduction in tax evasion through the expansion of online transactions and cash register connections to POS systems, had surpassed €2 billion.

“I can assure you that as tax evasion decreases, taxes will also decrease,” he added.

Pierrakakis mentioned the planned 184,000 tax inspections by authorities in 2025, describing the initiative as sending an “important message, especially to tax-compliant citizens who feel a sense of great injustice.”