Government
Europe's Great Untapped Revenue Source: Property Taxes
But will they take advantage of it?
PARIS – In the sidewalk cafes of Paris, people jam the tables, nursing coffee and kir. If global financial trauma has bludgeoned the French capital, it’s not obvious. But clues are there, if you look closely. Broken ticket machines and escalators in the Metro hint at deferred maintenance. On the pricey rue de Rivoli, a shop window proclaims a liquidation sale.
In Athens, 1,300 miles away, economic suffering is blatant. Whole neighborhoods are all but abandoned to squatters and riots. The Greek Orthodox Church is serving 250,000 meals a day to the hungry. Graffiti has spread like fungus.