At the end of February the European Union said it was sending in tax collection forces to help the new, unelected Greek government take money from the people.

On March 15, 2012, the EU tax collection task force (including 160 German tax man troops!) said Greece has already collected about U.S.$1.2 billion.

On March 14, 2012, New Democracy party leader Antonis Samaras, said not only is the Greek government going to increase taxes, but they’re going to privatize the tax collection business: “If necessary we will get tax oriented companies like KPMG to help collect taxes. We have to make an appeal for outsourcing, even in collecting taxes and we’ll also try to make public employees more competitive.”

Making public employees “more competitive” is code for reducing their pay and benefits even more!  Now you know why the Greek people are still fighting in the streets.

KPMG is a Swiss company that specializes in tax collections. They have operations in the United States, and more than 150 countries!