Report: 20% of Denmark's adult population work "in the black market"“

تقرير جديد يكشف حجم الظاهرة والخسائر الضريبية الضخمة، والوزيرة الدنماركية تصف الوضع بـ “غير المقبول”.

According to BT and quoting Ritzau, the Jyllands-Posten newspaper revealed the results of an extensive study conducted by the Rockwool Foundation, which showed that one in five Danish adults work in unregistered economic activities (known as black work or tax evasion) during one year, which represents a major challenge for the country's Ministry of Taxation and Public Finance.

The study, which was directed to Denmark’s new tax minister, Ane Halsboe-Jørgensen, described the phenomenon as unacceptable, emphasizing its direct impact on the economy and local society.

وقالت وزيرة الضرائب آن هالسبو-يورغنسن لصحيفة يولاندس بوستن Jyllands-Posten: “إنها مشكلة ضخمة. لو أن الجميع دفع ما عليه من ضرائب، لكان من الممكن خفض الضرائب بشكل ملحوظ. الغش في الضرائب هو في الواقع غش للجيران وللمجتمع المحلي، إذ يحرم المدارس ورعاية المسنين من التمويل اللازم لتطويرها”.

The minister added that she had hoped conditions would have improved since the data was collected in 2021, noting that the study was conducted on a large sample of 16,500 people aged between 18 and 74, making it the largest study of its kind in Denmark to date.

وعرّفت مؤسسة روكوول Rockwool Fonden “العمل الأسود” بأنه أنشطة إنتاجية وقانونية من حيث طبيعتها، لكنها لا تُخضع للضرائب أو ضريبة القيمة المضافة، وذلك باتفاق مشترك بين المشتري والبائع. ويشمل ذلك المدفوعات النقدية المباشرة والمقايضة والخدمات المتبادلة، وكذلك المبيعات غير المعلنة.

According to the report, these activities cost the Danish treasury approximately 13.7 billion Danish kroner annually in lost tax revenue. Despite a number of policy and administrative initiatives, the level of unregistered activities has not decreased for years.

In 2017, the Danish parliament unanimously passed a resolution to strengthen the powers of tax authorities in order to crack down on the black economy, and earlier this year six ministries collaborated to launch six large-scale national inspection campaigns aimed at uncovering unregistered economic activities in various sectors.

This initiative involved the Ministry of Taxation, the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Business, the Ministry of Food, the Ministry of the Interior and Health, and the Ministry of Employment. Part of these campaigns focused on monitoring kiosks and small shops suspected of harboring widespread unregistered workers.

The tax minister pointed out that the data dates back to 2021, which leads her to hope that the situation will have improved by 2025, but the size of the reported losses, along with the continuation of activity despite political efforts, confirms that the challenge still exists for the Danish authorities.

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