Resistance is Futile. Get Used to my Ugly Mug.
Posted on 05/15/2010 10:12:39 AM PDT by TigerLikesRooster
Rich Greeks Hide Their Swimming Pools: Report
Published: Friday, 14 May 2010 | 4:17 AM ET
By: Antonia Oprita
Web Producer, CNBC.com
Residents in rich areas of the Greek capital Athens are scrambling to hide their swimming pools under tarpaulins as tax authorities resort to satellite images to identify the owners and make them pay, French paper Le Monde reported on its Web site Friday.
Swimming pools are considered luxury goods in Greece and subject to tax.
For a pool of between 25 and 60 square meters, owners would have to pay up to 800 euros ($1,000) per year unless they can transfer 11,600 euros to a Greek bank account and use it for purchasing certain goods, according to a Web site offering advice on living in Crete.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnbc.com ...
P!
Google-earth-"capitalist"-surveillance-state alert.
Build a roof over your pool.
Federally imposed personal property tax at the rate of 100% coming to nation near you ...
If I was wealthy and living in Greece I would have moved myself and my wealth months ago.
Will they be able to get enough revenue this way to save Greek government waste? Perhaps they should use thermal imaging from these satellites, and charge according to pool temperature. If you heat your pool... you pay more.
Swimming pool ‘cover art’ is becoming the next hot thing!
btw, wtf is that?
Not if you work for the greek government...which I hear most of the wealthy greeks do.
"Fool! We'll tax your roof!!"
re: #13: post of the day, at least.
To Singapore, probably the most financially secure country on the planet.
why blame Google? The problem is big government.....That is the problem with socialism.....the government pits everyone against each other....but nobody goes after the real problem.......Big Gov.....
The county where I live in WA state uses aerial photography to monitor land use regulations. It’s pretty much the same thing. Evidently, many counties around the country do the same thing because the company who does the photography is out of NY. Not exactly local.
The counties don’t like to talk about it much because it is such a violation of privacy, but if you go down to the planning office, they will show the photographs on file of your property. Just hope that you weren’t doing any nude sunbathing the day they took the pictures.
Build a roof over your pool.
That’s an even bigger tax
When the government becomes oppressive and irresponsible as in Greece today, there is nothing wrong with a grey or black market economy.
“Fighting tax evasion in the country of 11 million, where the “grey” economy is estimated at a third of gross domestic product”
Although the grey economy may encourage nefarious activities, on balance it is a net positive because it allows individuals cheaper access to important goods and services. True, criminal enterprises may flourish to some extent, but at least the most powerful and insidious criminal enterprise - socialist government- is somewhat stifled in its attempt to obtain totalitarian power.
When Biden said it was patriotic to pay your taxes, consider the opposite proposition. In fact, planning our lives to pay the least amount of taxes would be more patriotic when our federal government is so oppressive as is today. Whether we go Galt or adopt some other method, the goal should be to deny our oppressors the means to continue to oppress us.
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