Will Grigg?s Liberty Minute

August 20, 2012

When tax inspectors from the Greek government descended on a small seafood restaurant on the island of Hydra, they expected to collect sales receipts and take the owner into custody. Things didn?t quite work out that way.

Facing the prospect of ruin for failing to collect the confiscatory value-added tax, the 55-year-old woman who owns the small business fainted when the tax police attempted to arrest her. Determined to take a hostage, the tax police handcuffed the woman?s 25-year-old son in her stead. This infuriated the island?s residents, who laid siege to the local police station where the young man was held.

When riot police were dispatched from Athens to rescue the tax collectors, a crowd converged at the port to prevent them from taking their hostage to the mainland. Eventually the tax collectors were permitted to leave.

Significantly, this incident received negative coverage in Germany, whose government-aligned banks lent huge sums to the Greek government. Greek citizens are depicted as deadbeats for refusing to pay off the foreign banks that are bailing out their failing welfare state.

Greek tax evasion could be considered informal repudiation of the government?s debt ? a trend that certainly won?t stop there.

Let us take back the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free.