How the government officially “declared” freelancers as tax evaders and turned citizens into “headhunters”

Created by DALL·E 3

Since yesterday the government “declared” freelancers as tax evaders, and turned citizens into “headhunters”.

Prime Minister Mitsotakis said from the rostrum of parliament that “half of freelancers declare zero income, is this absurd or not?” In other words, he declared 50% of freelancers to be “tax evaders.” But he didn’t say that before the double elections in May-June, when they rushed en masse to vote for him and his party to stay in power.

We do not consider the question of whether this is true or not. This is mostly true. We live in Greece and we know what and how. But when you stand up and ask for the votes of a certain professional class, then before the election you have to tell them honestly what you are going to do with them.

It is also true that many freelancers evade taxes. But most of them pay them regularly. They just don’t make really big profits because the market can’t provide them. And often they simply do not have enough money to pay bills and fixed taxes that do not depend on the amount of income. After all, we are often talking about ordinary craftsmen, whose activities depend on market conditions, fashion, and, ultimately, their state of health. And all this against the backdrop of incredibly high taxes, which take away more than half of freelancers’ earnings.

The new tax bill will punish those who failed to find the “golden” job and simply force them to close down. Their market segment will be transferred to those who are doing well or will often go “nowhere”.

As of yesterday, the Prime Minister officially announced them tax evaders, and the new bill instructs citizens to “snitch” on them at every opportunity. Citizens are turning into “headhunters” for tax evasion.

The 144,000 complaints (which will ultimately remain unpaid because some people rushed to complain before the law was passed) say a lot about what lies hidden in the background of the collective thinking of Greek society.

This is the first time this has happened in the modern history of Greece, and this is also the first time that such a breakdown in relations between members of society has occurred. The moral impact of this rash decision is enormous, and this is an occasion for the basest feelings hidden in the subconscious of citizens to come to the surface. In essence, the authorities are leading the people to make everyone quarrel with each other, turning social relations into a “mini” civil war. Which, from the point of view of the current leadership of the country, is beneficial and convenient, since it destroys the horizontal ties of society and does not allow opponents of the authorities to come to an agreement with each other. But at the same time, this places a huge bomb under the entire structure of society, which will not forgive such behavior to the Mitsotakis government.

Created by DALL·E 3

As world practice shows, when in a state the agreement between the authorities and society is violated, and society ceases to trust the state, this sooner or later leads to its collapse, or forces the country’s leaders to take power by force, turning into a dictatorship. However, a dictatorship has one problem – you can rely on bayonets, but it is difficult to sit on them for a long time…

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