#Greece Default Watch :: Chania Office Refuses To Accept Tax Payment

#Greece Default Watch :: Chania Tax Office Refuses Car Tax Payment, Why?

What is going on? You'll Never Believe the Reason

#Greece Default Watch. A resident british ex-pat in #Crete was keen to pay his 2012 Vehicle Road Tax (known as the car tax) with a deadline of end of December 2011 so he took off in his car down to his local #Chania Tax collection office. Cash ready in hand, his offer of payment was refused. The reason? The forms are not yet ready! That was mid November!

While I appreciate Brits sometimes like to clear their debts early and not have to worry any more over getting a payment settled, especially older members of society, it is appalling that with Greece in such a deep financial state of affairs they still cannot get their act together to promptly collect payments to fill state coffers.

Or is there some chicanery at work? Could the Greek government be trying to force people to pay late and therefore pay heavy penalties if the Car Tax is not paid before year end - knowing that Greeks often do things at the last minute and may this time miss the last payment date because the correct forms are not ready? Follow Link at the bottom of the article for more about the steep penalty if the Car Tax is paid late.

One of those early lessons of business life I learned was this. While it is great to have a wizard of a sales team, it is even more important to have a super efficient team in the accounts office to firstly bill clients promptly and secondly to collect all generated income on the due date! Any government is no different in revenue collection. If the Greek Government is being honest and the lack of printed forms is the real issue then why can't the Greek Government understand that if civil servants are working to rule or are being obstructive, bypass them altogether.

Even better, may I suggest the the Government set up a Fast Track payment mechanism on major tax collection matters. This it could do by putting to work those highly educated and motivated young university graduates from Greek universities who are unemployed and really do understand the need for change, and put them in the necessary positions, even temporary to get the revenue collection job done. Whether it means bypassing the "old bureaucratic ways", or not, just do it, otherwise Greece will continue to be a lost cause.

Aren't Greeks in the Diaspora "oh so embarrassed" about their homeland brethren's inability to just get on with getting things done right to get out of this huge economic mess?

The Brits, Living in Crete blog continues to be on Greece Default Watch.