Sales tax fraud in the EU costing billions

BRUSSELS – European Union governments may have been cheated out of 90 to 113 billion euros over a period of seven years, EU investigators estimate. The shortfall may be as high as 12 percent of all the sales tax monies owed, with Greece leading the 25 EU countries with 30 percent in unreported income. The investigation also found that Luxemburg loses the least in sales tax revenue; at only one percent. The Dutch also rate as being fairly honest, as their government is thought to have lost only three percent to such fraud. The figures and percentages are estimates and have been gathered to underline the necessity to continue the battle against sales tax fraud. Of the EU-countries, Greece, Italy, Spain and Ireland are facing giant fiscal problems.