German Historian: Rich Greeks Evade Taxes Since 1830

“The rich were exempt from taxes since the birth of the Greek state in 1830,” said German historian Heinz Richter, criticizing Greek political parties.

The German historian and author is professor emeritus of modern Greek and Cypriot history at the University of Mannheim. He has written a book and several papers on Greece.

Speaking to German Radio Deutschlandfunk, Richter spoke of a serious problem of political culture in Greece. In light of the new Greek government’s intention to create a more fair tax system by charging more to the high-income strata of Greek society, he said that this is impossible since rich Greeks are not paying their fair share of taxes since 1830.

Richter put emphasis on another crucial aspect of Greek reality: “The political culture in Greece differs from the rest of Western Europe because it is based on clientelism… It is a completely closed system. And so the political formulas that apply in Western Europe, do not work there.” ...