"You make a criminal out of someone who can't pay"

Minister of Finance Mr.Papakostantinou has not managed to persuade the members of the parliamentary Financial Cases Committee, and especially the members of PASOK, that it is necessary to make non-payment to the IRS a legal offense.
 

He explained the need for the measures, but Mr.Geitonas of PASOK said “I really believe that this is over the top and it will not bring results necessarily. If this law is not well-thought-out it will just be like a witch hunt for people that are poor and a punishment for business failure. We do have strict fines for other offenses, but that has not necessarily brought results. We should find a middle solution with regulations that bring results ”.

Mr.Margelis of PASOK also said “There are not simply punctual and non-punctual payers. Many of them are people that have been very punctual with their payments to the IRS, but have had difficulties and the fact that the State delays their payment of, for example, tax returns has made them unable to pay their taxes. So I am proposing that if someone owes a lot to the Tax Office, then the money the Tax Office owes him from previous years should be deducted from his debts, and of course that no legal action should be taken against him. Look at the fines you want to impose; someone who is not paying is receiving the same punishment as someone who is giving out fake receipts. That is not fair”.

Mr.Alevras also made similar comments, stating that 'the legal aspects should be really looked into by academicians and the biggest problem would be to freeze business transactions”.