[peshooo]

Maybe you are not from Bulgaria. The taxes are pretty low - 10% on pretty much everything - capital gains, on your salary, etc. So there is not much tax evasion.

But there are worse issues here, for example: corruption, stealing of European and government funds, oligarchic control of the power, etc.

[kartan]

Bulgaria underground economy was the highest of the EU27. Is it possible that low/high taxes has no correlation with tax evasion?

A good tax office, effective laws and public awareness seems more important than how high or low are taxes.

I only found data from 2012: http://jalac.kyxar.fr/ANG/ECONOIR11.html

[ChuckNorris89]

IMO the statistics in your link are severely wrong and don't reflect the real-world situation.

I live in Austria and the underground economy here is way WAY bigger than 8.2%.

Most small restaurants/bars/cafes here are cash only and rarely(never) hand out receipts. Also, tips are a large source of income for workers in the service industry and many are paid under the table.

[gruez]

>I live in Austria [...]

>Also, tips are a large source of income for workers in the service industry and many are paid under the table.

I thought tip culture isn't really a thing in Europe?

[phs318u]

When baristas are paid as little as €3/hr (post-crisis Greece), tips are a survival requisite.

[drcross]

Generally you tip 10-15% for a proper sit down meal, that's all.

[danielscrubs]

Generally it differs from country to country, it’s intellectually lazy to say these things about Europe/Americans/Africa.

[StavrosK]

In Greece, you tip 1 or 2 euros. Maybe 5 if the bill is over 100 euros or something like that.

[dmix]

How could tax evasion not be correlated to the rate?

It’s expensive to hide tax money, especially when you can’t use it for investments.

The higher the rates the more it’s worth the risk and difficult work it takes to hide it from the gov. Which typically involves two or three parties (the person paying you without the paper trail, you trying to hide it, and the bank or organization where you plan to hide it in).

[kartan]

> How could tax evasion not be correlated to the rate?

To make such a statement you need data. I can argue for the opposite to be true and an inverse relationship exists. Look for countries with very low taxes (like South Africa) and the to ones with high taxes (like Sweden). You will see that lower taxes correlate with higher evasion.

My data is not very rigorous. That is why I think that i requires further work to get to a conclusion. Can you present data that justifies your point?

[alt_f4]

> The taxes are pretty low - 10% on pretty much everything

And about 20% on national insurance. And 20% VAT. Not that low.

[mariusmg]

>But there are worse issues here, for example: corruption, stealing of European and government funds, oligarchic control of the power, etc.

Ah, the Eastern Europe usual problems...

[ChuckNorris89]

I'm from Eastern Europe and lived in quite a few western European countries and believe me, politicians here are corrupt to the bone as well, just that the people enjoy a higher standard of living and have more disposable income so they're not too bothered by the constant theft going on in the politics high above.