Greeks Outraged by Lagarde’s Tax Evasion Comments

Last Updated: 28, May 2012

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Greek politicians and citizens are enraged by International Monetary Fund Managing Director Christine Lagarde’s dismissive comments that Greeks are avoiding paying taxes. In an interview with the UK’s Guardian newspaper, Lagarde said that while she was sensitive of the plight facing Greece, “they should help themselves collectively by all paying their tax.”

In an uncompromising interview with the Guardian, Lagarde suggested it was payback time for Greece and made it clear that the IMF has no intention of softening the terms of the country’s austerity package.

She added that she has more sympathy for children deprived of decent schooling in sub-Saharan Africa rather than those facing poverty in Athens.

In some of the bluntest language of the two-and-a-half-year debt crisis, Lagarde said:

[quote] No, it’s not harder (to impose strong conditions on a rich nation). No. Because it is the mission of the fund, and it is my job to say the truth, whoever it is across the table. And I tell you something: It is sometimes harder to tell the government of low-income countries, where people live on $3,000, $4,000, or $5,000 per capita per year, to actually strengthen the budget and reduce the deficit. Because I know what it means in terms of welfare programme and support for the poor. It has much bigger ramifications. [/quote]

Greece made a deal in 2010 to receive hundreds of billions of euros from the IMF and the EFSF, a European Union bailout fund, to rescue it from financial collapse, in return for tough reforms.

Yet, the deal is under threat following inconclusive elections in May.

In to the fifth year of recession, the once-taboo topic of a Grexit, or Greek euro exit, entered into public debate this week, as EU forecasts showed the country’s economy will contract by a further 4.7 percent in 2013.

Lagarde was also quoted saying:

[quote] As far as Athens is concerned, I also think about all those people who are trying to escape tax all the time. All these people in Greece who are trying to escape tax. I think they should also help themselves collectively – by all paying their tax. [/quote]

Her comments have infuriated many Greeks, who accuse Lagarde of trying to humiliate the debt stricken country.

Radical left-wing leader Alexis Tsipras, whose Syriza party is one of the two top contenders for the June 17 election, insisted:

[quote] The last thing we seek in Greece is her sympathy. Greek workers pay their taxes, which are unbearable. [/quote]

In response to her comments, Greek web users waged Facebook war against Lagarde on Sunday, and by late Sunday afternoon a separate Facebook page had sprung up titled “Greeks are against Lagarde”.

After being bombarded on her Facebook page with 10,000 messages, many of them obscene, Lagarde took to the social networking site to clarify:

[quote] As I have said many times before, I am very sympathetic to the Greek people and the challenges they are facing. That’s why the IMF is supporting Greece in its endeavor to overcome the current crisis and return to the path of economic growth, jobs and stability. An important part of this effort is that everyone should carry their fair share of the burden, especially the most privileged and especially in terms of paying their taxes. That is the point I was emphasizing when I spoke to the Guardian newspaper as part of a broader interview some time ago. [/quote]

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