In the Black in Belgium

The Cell for Financial Information Processing (CFI, Cel voor Financiële Informatiewerking) is on the track of laundered money, which shows that the illegal economy in Belgium is substantially increasing.

The CFI also discovered more links between dossiers of clandestine labour (human trafficking) and of financial crime. This shows that a black economy is developing, according to Jean-Claude Delepière, chairman of the CFI.

The underground economy grew mainly in Brussels and Antwerp with their large number of night shops and telephone shops. Earlier an American drug report pointed out that the 3500 telephone shops often operated as illegal bank offices. Apart from illegal labour and human trafficking it seems as if the bigger flow of laundered money created by the illegal car trade is on the increase as well.

Has Belgium ever considered that if they didn't tax you for everything but taking a crap, maybe this underground system wouldn't be so prevalent.

Anybody notice something out of place here?

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The Germans are on a Tax Blitzkrieg

Looks like they just invaded Lichtenstein!

A German spy agency has paid a secret informant some $7.3 million for a CD containing incriminating data on rich Germans who transferred billions to nearby Lichtenstein to avoid taxes. It's the biggest blow against tax fraud in Germany, and the first that has the country's intelligence agency involved.

Lichtenstein, a landlocked alpine principality with just 35,000 citizens, has made a name for itself as a discreet tax haven. Bordered by Switzerland to its west and by Austria to its east, Lichtenstein is one of the few countries in the world with more registered companies than citizens and has, like Switzerland, laws that protect bank customers from outside governments.

STORY IN WALL STREET JOURNAL

Belgian Banks can now accept "Black Money"

Belgian banks will be able to accept small amounts of funds that have been kept from the taxman.
Until now bank clerks risked a conviction, if they handled illicit earnings - what Belgians generally refer to as "black money" - but a modification of the definition of fencing in Belgian criminal law means they now no longer need to fear a court appearance.

Leo Van Hove, Assistant Professor of Economics at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel, made a monetary study of the underground economy of Belgium as part of his 1997 doctoral thesis.
“Black work” costs every single Belgian EUR 1,500 per year in additional taxes, says Siebens. A family of four pays a staggering EUR 6,000 extra in taxes every year in order to make up the amount of taxes that would have been paid had everyone reported their income. “Only the richest people are profiting from this situation,” he says.