An extensive article on the high tax revenues achieved by the government’s financial staff is hosted by the authoritative Handelsblatt in its online edition.

The German newspaper even notes that the figures published every month by Kostis Hatzidakis would be the envy of his German counterpart Christian Litner.

In an article, the newspaper’s long-time journalist Gerd Hohler goes on to point out or even compare Greece with Germany and the rest of Europe on the course of growth, fiscal stability and the fight against tax evasion.

“Every month, Greek Finance Minister Kostis Hatzidakis submits data on budget management. German Finance Minister Christian Lindner is likely to be jealous of his Athenian colleague’s latest figures. After all, Greek state coffers are well-funded,” he points out in his analysis.

He also notes that “in the first eight months, tax revenues exceeded the budget by 1.9 billion euros. This was almost five percent more than budgeted.

The additional revenue is partly due to the strong economy. The Greek economy grew by 2.3 percent in the second quarter. Eurozone countries averaged only 0.6 percent growth. However, the high tax revenues are mainly due to the fact that Greece is successfully fighting tax evasion.”

On tax evasion, he notes emphatically that Greece has also clashed with influential voter groups

“For a long time, the efforts of Greek governments to collect taxes seemed rather incomplete. All the coalitions avoided clashing with influential voter groups such as doctors, lawyers, businessmen and the self-employed.”

Conservative Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis then said fighting tax evasion was one of his priorities. ‘It’s working,’ he happily posted on social media. The government has shown that “changes that many in Greece thought impossible are being implemented.”