Greece and illicit money flows

The Greek economy lost 261 billion US$ to crime, corruption and tax evasion from 2003 to 2011.

Greece also experienced massive inflows of illicit money in 2010 and 2011.

This means at least two things, according to Global Financial Integrity:
  1. If it were not for tax havens, Greece would never have needed a bail-out.
  2. The Greek (shadow) economy continues to grow at an increasing rate.
For workers and self-employed people at the bottom of the social hierarchy, these data must come as a shock. Or maybe people will say: we knew that already. But for anyone who still believes in the need and the possibility of social justice, these data are just unacceptable.
Every year, about 1 trillion USDollars of illicit money leave the developing countries, which is roughly 10 times the amount of official development aid.

Wealthy people from all over the world hold between 21 and 32 trillion US Dollars of undeclared income in tax havens.

At the global level, the richest 20 % had 82,8 % of income in 2007. The poorest 20 % had barely 1 % of incomes. In terms of wealth, this inequality is even much worse, and one dares not think of what it is taking into account the tax haven money.

When the European Commission tries to harmonize a modest tax on financial incomes, countries run to make bilateral arrangements with Switzerland, so as to escape the new legislation and maintain bank secrecy.

This is what the world looks like today. How long can this last?

In the meantime, the attempts to ‘fight extreme poverty’ are just absurd and ridiculous. The far too modest attempts to organize ‘basic’ health care and primary education are a slap in the face of poor people. This world is more than rich enough to give everyone a decent standard of living. Fighting inequality with universal social protection while fighting for just taxes and against tax havens should be the top priority.

This is what Global Social Justice is about. Read the contributions with new figures on illicit money flows, new considerations on global inequality and so much more. And give us your feedback, which is always very welcome.

31 comments:

  1. Ambil contoh kejatuhan ekonomi Greece ini sebaiknya. Ini sebagai contoh negara yang mengamalkan rasuah dan sebagainya.

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    1. Rasuah yang berleluasa akan menyebabkan ketidakstabilan dalam negara malah paling teruk menyebabkan ekonomi negara jatuh teruk.

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    2. rasuah adalah muush utama negara, kita harus banterasnya.

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    3. Bukan senang untuk membanteras rasuah, ambil masa juga.. semua terpulang kepada diri sendiri.

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    4. oleh itu kita semua harus menjauhi rasuah.

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  2. Kerana perkara sebegini Negara yang besar mana pun pastikan akan jatuh jika tidak ditangani kes tersebut. Kerana Rasuah ini cuma akan menyebabkan kerugian kepada kerajaan. Semoga kerajaan Malaysia akan cuba yang terbaik bagi memastikan perkara sebegini akan dapat dielakkan dan tangani semua masalah yang boleh menjatuhkan ekonomi Negara kita ini.

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    1. semoga ekonomi kita akan terus stabil dan semakin berkembang.

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  3. That's why we should be grateful that we still live in peace and harmony.

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    1. Betul tu. tapi apapun masih juga ada yang tidak bersyukur dengan keadaan yang dirasai di negara ni.

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  4. Keruntuhan ekonomi di Greece memang membuka mata semua pihak.

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    1. jadikan ia sebagai pengajaran.

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    2. Betul, jadikan ia pengajaran, tidak mustahil kita akan jadi begitu, jika rasuah masih berleluasa lagi.

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    3. oleh itu kita harus sentiasa berusaha untuk menjaga kestabilan yang kita ada.

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  5. Prosperity does not come in an easy way.

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  6. Bersyukur la apa yang kita ada.

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  7. It means that the financial stability in Malaysia is comparable with other developing countries.

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  8. One need to work hard to earn a good living.

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  9. There is need for us to appreciate what we have now.

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  10. We all can learn from what is written above.

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  11. Learn and practice what you have been taught.

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  12. Learn and practice what you have been taught.

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    1. True and very practical....I hope we all can learn from this.

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  13. Sentiasa bersyukur dengan apa yang ada.. kita jauh lebih baik dari Negara lain.

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  14. kita lebih beruntung berbanding rakyat di kebanyakan negara lain.

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  15. kekalkan keamanan dan amalan murni yang kita ada dan jauhi rasuah.

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  16. Malaysia akan mengikut jejak langkah Greece jika Anwar memerintah negara ini..

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  17. Malaysia should introduce the Goods and Services Tax (GST) now as the country was still enjoying a fairly strong economic growth.

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  18. Wan Heng Choon, Senior Executive Director, PricewaterhouseCoopers Taxation (PwC), said while Malaysia was still enjoying reasonable rates of growth and bringing its budget deficit under control, now would be the best time to introduce the tax.

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  19. He said there were calls for the GST to be implemented after a grace period of at least 12 to 18 months after it was announced and there were concerns that the tax would cause inflation.

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  20. In this respect, there must be a commitment to assist the lower income group. There is a need to make the tax simple to understand," Wan said during a Budget 2013 briefing.

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  21. Meanwhile, Jagdev Singh, Senior Executive Director, PricewaterhouseCoopers Taxation, said Malaysia's economy remained positive but highly uncertain and this fits into the global picture in tandem with the uncertainty caused by the Eurozone debt crisis, mixed but generally weak economic growth amongst advanced nations and slowing growth in Asia.

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