Now there is no doubt that the whole of the Greek Civil Service, never a shining example at the best of times has fallen into total disarray, not least because of the ham fisted policies imposed at the behest of the troika. Salaries slashed across the board indiscriminately, threats of mass sacking, never defined but looming all over the place have not lead to greater efficiency.
The Ministry of Finances’ employees had enjoyed higher salaries precisely because of the nature of their work. Now this had lead to everyone getting the extra perks and not just the tax inspectors, but still. The functioning of the tax collection system was far from perfect and far from efficient, nevertheless it had begun to improve over the years. Now, the troika has thrown a spanner in the works and wonders why it is no longer working at all.
As to whether the arrival of German tax collectors would help? Although there is no doubt we could do with all the help we can get in organizing our civil service, I don’t think such an ad hoc arrangement would do any good. First would come the outcry, who is paying for these guys? And what are they getting paid? Since it is extremely unlikely that any of these fine people would be getting paid the 600 Euro a month the Greek employees are getting, it would hardly go down well. And besides, if you take the trouble to assess our own Greek manpower and pay them just a little more, then you would get better results.
Second, there would of course be resentment. Particularly if the tax collectors were only German. They would be depicted as overbearing German overlords (no doubt in SS uniforms). And how would it work? Could 160 or so foreign civil servants start running the whole tax collection machinery with no input from the locals? And what incentive would the local civil servants have to cooperate? Remember their salaries have often been more than halved and they have the axe of being made redundant hanging indiscriminately over their heads.
But the problem is far too complex. A large part of the problem is the malfunctioning of justice, that is with regard to speed rather than fairness. Tax cases can last for twenty years without being resolved. The actual taxation system as it is now is absolutely nonsensical, taxing you for income you don’t have, for instance, because you live in a large house and have a car or something. While others get off scot free. Not to mention the recent taxation changes, again imposed by the troika, whereby those under the breadline will pay income tax this year.
So I don’t think the problem of the Greek taxation system is one that can be fixed by 160 well meaning foreigners. We have plenty of gifted and well educated young people here in Greece who could and should be enlisted to carry this out. Only now, of course the troika has imposed a pogrom on youth. By their standards the young of this country should either work for nothing or go and emigrate!
So no, piece meal solutions like this one just will not make any difference at all and might even make things very much worse.