There are more Porsches in Greece than taxpayers declaring 50,000 euro incomes (abridged title)

Telegraph.co.uk ^ | 10/31/2011 | Ian Cowie

[Skeez]

Jubilation about the German deal to save the euro could prove short-lived if fresh news of Greek tax evasion gains wider currency. There are more Porsche Cayennes registered in Greece than taxpayers declaring an income of 50,000 euros (£43,800) or more, according to research by Professor Herakles Polemarchakis, former head of the Greek prime minister’s economic department. While German car workers may take pride in this evidence of their export success, German taxpayers may be less keen to bail out a nation whose population appears to take such a cavalier approach to paying its fiscal dues. Never mind all that macroeconomic talk about deficit distress, many Greeks are still plainly riding high on the hog. Something can’t be right when the modest city of Larisa, capital of the agricultural region of Thessaly with 250,000 inhabitants, has more Porsches per head of the population than New York or London. Perhaps the penny – or the euro – is already dropping, because Professor Polemarchakis writes that Larissa “is the talk of the town in Stuttgart, the cradle of the German automobile industry, and, particularly, in the Porsche headquarters there”, since it “tops the list, world-wide, for the per-capita ownership of Porsche Cayennes”.

[Skeez]

Saw that this was never posted. Unbelievable! Add BMW's, Mercedes, and high other end sport cars to the list and see how that compares to the over 40k number....

[EagleUSA]

And we think we have a problem with the vote-chasing libs giving house loans to minimum wage earners....

[apillar]

Saw somewhere that tax evasion in Greece is over 80%. In fact tax evasion is so much a part of the culture that people that the 20% who actually pay taxes are looked on as fools.

[DarkSavant]

Looks like this has been debunked.

http://skeptics.stackexchange.com/questions/6881/are-there-more-greeks-driving-porsche-cayennes-than-paying-high-rate-tax/

[rdcbn]

In other words, Germans have dumped as many Porsches on Greece as they can and the market is saturated so it’s time to cut the Greeks loose.

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

It is year-round sport in Greece to evade paying taxes. The government is either powerless or too stupid to do anything about it. This is one of the problems at the root of their current dilemma.

[ken5050]

You just need to add a Janis Joplin track to this thread...

"Lord, won't you buy me a Mercedes-Benz...my friends all drive Porsches, I must make amends.."

[Lazlo in PA]

Well no one ever said the Greeks had good taste. This is almost as ugly as the Panamera. What a bunch of tax cheating clowns.

[Reagan69]

We have 3 in our garage. I’m clearly of the 1% !

[patton]

Lieber Gott bitte kauf mir einen Mercedes Benz
meine Freunde fahren Porsche
und machen sich ‘nen duften Lenz.

Ich hab hart geschuftet
trotz meiner Korpulenz.
Lieber Gott bitte kauf mir einen Mercedes Benz!

Lieber Gott bitte bring mir einen Farbfernseher vorbei.
Das fauend ich echt stark; sei doch mal so frei. Ich wart’ auf’s Paradies jeden Tag bis um drei.Oh lieber Gott bitte bring mir einen Farbfernseher vorbei.

Lieber Gott wann gibst du endlich einen aus.Das kannst du ruhig mal machen fuer den kleinen Klaus.Und zahl auch die Mietesonst flieg ich bei mir raus.Lieber Gott wann gibst du endlich einen aus?

[WayneS]

In my County, there are more PORCHES than people claiming incomes above $50,000.

[WayneS]

It’s the same vehicle as a VW Toureg, isn’t it?

[Lazlo in PA]

They are one in the same. I suspect the price tag on the Porsche may be a touch higher though.

[Moltke]

They are one in the same.

They 'share a platform', FWIW, but the differences are many. Engines, transmissions, suspensions, interiors,...

They are 'one and the same' in the sense that some Ford and Jaguar (and perhaps Volvo) models are that.

I probably wouldn't pay the premium for the differences there are, but then I wouldn't buy any of the above anyway.

[toothfairy86]

Organized crime is rampant is many of these countries. The last time I was in eastern Europe, at least 1/3 of the cars were either Mercedes, BMW or Porche. Many of these people live in gated communities too.

[Moltke]

Larisa, capital of the agricultural region of Thessaly with 250,000 inhabitants, has more Porsches per head of the population than New York or London.

Indicative, but in the end meaningless without quoting absolute numbers. (Will people ever learn the significance of 'relative' and 'absolute' when it comes to 'the numbers game'? Those with an agenda will always quote one and suppress the other.) And how does it compare to, say, Beverly Hills or Zurich?

[LadyDoc]

uh, how much does a Porsche cost there?

We have a BMW here in the Philippines...it wasn’t much more than a Toyota since they assemble them here.