IN MY OWN OBSERVATION, SUPPORT FOR SOCIALISM SEEMS TO BE CLOSELY LINKED WITH A WILLINGNESS TO CHEAT ON TAXES: Greece Struggles to Get Citizens to Pay Their Taxes.

During the country’s centurieslong occupation by the Ottomans, avoiding taxes was a sign of patriotism. Today, that distrust is focused on the government, which many Greeks see as corrupt, inefficient and unreliable.

“Greeks consider taxes as theft,” said Aristides Hatzis, an associate professor of law and economics at the University of Athens. “Normally taxes are considered the price you have to pay for a just state, but this is not accepted by the Greek mentality.” . . . Alleged corruption among politicians only strengthens Greeks’ conviction that evading taxes in their own everyday lives isn’t a serious crime, and little stigma is attached to getting caught, unlike in other European countries or even the U.S.

That said, this is consistent with my own warning from 2009.