[vbmoneyspender]

From a story that hit the newspapers in 2012

It's stories like these that make you think: Wow, perhaps Greece really does have some major reforms it can do.

Ektahimerini has a story on what it takes to open an online store in Greece.

It focuses on Fotis Antonopoulos, the co-founder of olive oil site Oliveshop.com.

There's months and months of bureaucracy, and paperwork and all that, but that's just the tip of the iceberg.

“Most stores begin operating after receiving only the approval regarding their brand name, as the bureaucracy involved takes such a long time to complete that it is simply impossible to keep up with the operational costs, such as paying rent on obligatory headquarters, without making any sales,” said Antonopoulos.

Antonopoulos and his partners spent hours collecting papers from tax offices, the Athens Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the municipal service where the company is based, the health inspector’s office, the fire department and banks. At the health department, they were told that all the shareholders of the company would have to provide chest X-rays, and, in the most surreal demand of all, stool samples.

[vbmoneyspender]

Reading the link above, you can see what is going on. The Greek bureaucracy demanding the x-rays and stool samples isn't demanding those because they expect the business people to actually provide them but because the want to make the demands to open the business so onerous that the business people will have no choice but to pay a bribe to get on with their business.

The papers often talk about how the Greeks are notorious at avoiding taxes but I have some sympathy with them on this point. The producers are the ones generating incomes that are being taxed and I can see why they would want to pay as little in taxes as possible because the more you pay, the more you become a potential target for the grifters who populate the Greek governmental bureaucracies.