MOST OF GREECE
Greece’s enormous public debt finally became impossible for the rest of Europe to ignore in 2010, and the rest of the European Union began a series of bailouts costing hundreds of billions of euros. Greece got itself into hot water with excessive government spending coupled with the global financial crisis, but the fact that Greeks just don’t pay their taxes also made it very hard for the nation to close its deficits.
Between a shadow economy that makes up an estimated 20 to 30 percent of Greece’s GDP paired with old-fashioned fraud and lying, Greeks are ducking €11 to €16 billion in taxes a year.