The timing could not have been more unfortunate.

Just as parliament ratified a law on cuts in pensions and salaries in both the public and private sectors, without right of arbitration by employees, the income and property tax forms of Greek politicians has in some cases revealed significant, if not impressive, fortunes, including houses, land, bank accounts, shares and luxury boats.

The headlines from some of the Greek newspapers are indicative of the impact this has had, at least upon some people: “A Real Estate Government” (To Vima), “Patrician Members of the Ministerial Cabinet” (Ethnos) “The question remains: Where did all this come from?” (Eleftheros Typos).

The following figures stand out among the tax forms filed by members of Greece’s political elite:

Giorgos Karatzaferis (LA.OS party) owns 24 houses and appartments and 12 plots of land, Giorgos Voulgarakis (former Public Order and Culture minister and current Merchant Marine Minister) owns 49 houses and plots of land, Nikos Tsiartsionis (former Macedonia and Thrace minister) owns 46 houses and apartments and Giannis Papathanasiou (former Deputy Minister of Development and current Deputy Minister of Finance) owns 43 houses and apartments. Mr. Voulgarakis also has bank deposits of 2.4 million euros jointly with his wife, while Fevronia Patrianakou (MP of State for New Democracy) has deposits worth 1.5 million pounds and 400.000 euros. Prokopis Doukas (former Deputy Minister of Finance and former Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs) owns shares worth 3.6 million euros, Mr. Voulgarakis owns shares worth 2.2 million euros, Ms. Patrianakou shares worth 1.2 million euros, and Miltiadis Evert (former New Democracy president) shares worth 1.1 million euros.