Greece to hire tourists as undercover tax inspectors

If your summer vacation plans include a trip to Greece, you might find yourself playing spy for the country’s finance ministry.

The plan to hire not just tourists but also housekeepers and students as amateur, undercover tax inspectors is one of seven new reforms suggested by the Greek government to ward off the threat of bankruptcy.

Seeking to curb what amounted to over 70 billion euros in accumulated arrears at the end of 2014, the Greek government hopes that by employing “casual onlookers” it will deter citizens from committing tax evasion. January saw tax revenue drop almost 1 billion euros below the government’s goal, according to CNNMoney.

In a letter to Eurogroup President Jeroen Dijsselbloem, Greece’s Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis said the nonprofessional inspectors would be trained and then hired on a two-month, one-time-only basis. While they would reportedly carry no official power, the undercover agents will be “wired” with hidden microphones and cameras to gather data for use by the “full-time tax authorities” to level fines at evaders.

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