Greece loses 1.7 billion euro annually from cigarette and fuel smuggling

The annual profits of fuel and cigarette smugglers have been compensated by the government through the imposition of the extra and regular property tax or by the cuts in the regular and auxiliary pensions as reported by the Greek Ethnos newspaper. According to the authors of the article, the smuggling cost of every Greek household is over 500 euro per year.  The total damage to the state due to fuel smuggling alone is to the amount of 1 billion euro per year and that from cigarette smuggling 700 million euro annually. In particular, the total amount of the damage to the state due to fuel smuggling, including the loss of income and taxes, amounts to 600 million euro. However, according to market players, it is 1 billion euro, including the alleged “export” of fuel, the exact amount of which is very difficult to calculate.

http://www.grreporter.info/en/greece_loses_17_billion_euro_annually_cigarette_and

_fuel_smuggling/10759#sthash.3L4FhthZ.dpuf