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Victoria Mindova

Two new extra taxes of permanent nature stabbed in the Greeks back the Ministry of Finance’s official presentation of the mid-term recovery plan. If the idea of ​​extra taxes on the ordinary taxpayers was just a rumour until yesterday, unofficial information heard here and there, today the Minister of Finance Georgios Papakonstantinou confirmed the new measures. The first is the tax on all who have income or, in two words, are not unemployed, but its base is not clear yet. It will be applied gradually depending on the amount of the annual income and will be between 1% and 4%.

The other extra tax is for the unemployment fund, which increases along with the recession. The Minister of Finance himself has admitted that things are out of control and the government had to find extra 700 billion euros in 2010 to pay the social benefits of the newly registered in the labour offices.

As for the new extra tax on annual income, which all taxpayers will obviously pay, Georgios Papakonstantinou said that if his ministry does its work well and reduces the percentage of tax evasion, it could be cancelled earlier than 2015. This comment obviously cheered the journalists who came to hear the official announcement of the mid-term recovery plan. The comments then were that the tax evaders capturing is a matter of good will, which is obviously lacking in the Greek governments to date.

Another measure that will seriously affect the GDP and the consumption is the increase in the VAT on restaurant services from 13% to 23% in September. Analysts estimate that this will affect tourism negatively, because prices in taverns, restaurants and cafes will increase significantly. Another increase in the excise duty on cigarettes, which is about 75% and may reach 95%, is expected too. The government hopes that this increase will not reduce the number of smokers in order to increase the revenue in the state treasury by another 150 million euros in 2011, by 100 million euros in 2012 and another 50 million euros in 2013.

There will be excise duty on natural gas too, but its value is not officially announced yet. The leveling of heating and transport fuel: this measure has serious opposition from all levels of the political system and the society, because it is very likely the people in areas with high unemployment to stay in the cold during the winter. Greek journalists jokingly noted that due to the greenhouse effect and the general warming of the planet, the country's winter will be much softer and there will even be no need of heating fuel.

The Ministry of Finance will present a new tax law to be voted in September, which will increase the tax base to raise the budget revenues. The nontaxable property tax base falls for sure to tax assessment of € 200,000 and yet another extra tax on property owners is introduced, but its size is not yet known. Trying to bring back to Greece the money of those Greeks, who made their deposits abroad, Papakonstantinou offers a relevant campaign. However, it is not known whether the people are ready to declare their money in a country that tries to tax everything with impossible tax rates.

The good news is that banking secrecy for all employees in the public sector will be cancelled. Particular attention is expected to be paid to key positions - ministers, civil servants in senior positions, heads of hospitals, large companies and the like. The state will withhold an amount on all bank transactions from September and the people will not only pay the bank service charge, but a public fee too. Given that the policy of the Ministry of Finance is trying to minimize cash payments from the outset, bank fees in favour of the public sector will bring a lot of money in the budget. The road tax will be increased by 10% this year too and the owners of swimming pools and yachts will pay an extra tax in addition to the luxury tax.