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A black Christmas is awaiting the Greeks at the end of 2011, when they will have to pay seven taxes, some of which are seriously inflated, while others are brand new and unaffordable for many households. The revenues from the new merciless taxes must fill the hole in the budget, which according to official data, has reached almost three billion Euros to November this year. The aid from Europe and the International Monetary Fund cannot fill the gap because the money is needed to pay public sector wages and pensions before Christmas. The taxes hanging over the heads of the Greeks are as follows:

1. The extra charge Solidarity is a tax that was introduced this year and is paid in instalments, one of which comes in December. It is imposed on individuals who have a job, whether they are entrepreneurs, self-employed or on the pay roll, and it is not dependent on the annual income tax. Its value is between 1% and 5% of the annual income, and although it was adopted in the middle of this year, it has been backdated to 2010.
2. The extra property tax has already knocked on the doors of many households in Greece and its second instalment is expected to come along with Santa Claus. GRReporter announced several weeks ago that in many cases, there are significant differences in the calculation of this tax to the detriment of taxpayers. However, citizens will have to pay what has been calculated and then seek their rights for the amount inscribed to be recovered.
3. December is the time for the payment of the road tax too, which this year is about 13% higher than 2010. Owners of older cars will bear the largest burden because of the "non-environmental" and old technology of their cars and they will pay more.
4. The income tax is not new for Greek households, but this time it is in a new form with an extremely low tax free threshold of five thousand Euros, which does not even cover the income set for living on the brink of poverty in the country, which is about six thousand Euros annually for Greece.
5. Citizens and companies included in the tax amnesty measure of last year also have to pay their tribute, which will be at least three hundred Euros. The Ministry of Finance has resorted to the desperate measure of tax amnesty and promised to cancel all the tax sins of Greek businessmen in the period 2000-2009, if they agree to a certain amount determined by the control bodies, which is a percentage of the declared turnover of companies or individual persons. The purpose of the tax amnesty was to raise as much money as possible for the shortest time possible under the threat that tax authorities will storm the naughty companies with inspections. The application form for inclusion in the tax amnesty measure was distributed to all those who have had a business activity from 2000 until now, but it was mainly those who really had something to worry about who took part in it.
6. Pre-payment of taxes for the current year is a new service offered by the offices collecting revenue from the citizens. Under it, if taxpayers submit a request for payment of income tax, road tax, the VAT due and penalty fees for old debts by the end of December 2011 and pay the calculated amount in cash, they will be exempt from the extra taxes.
7. In addition to all the taxes mention above, the Greek tax authorities are expected to send the notifications for the property tax for 2009 (ETAK) and the tax on expensive real estate (FAP) for 2010. They will come with a delay of one to two years because as it is known, Greek public administration and tax services are doing "the most efficient" job.

Meanwhile, it became clear that the revenue collected in the treasury by November this year is 13.3% less than originally planned in the budget, making it almost impossible for the Greek budget deficit to be 9% of GDP at the end of 2011, not to mention the 7.6% of GDP planned at the beginning of the year. Maintaining the public sector is still costly to ordinary taxpayers in Greece and the private sector is starting to shrink dramatically. Political instability in the past weeks has made many depositors withdraw their money from local banks. Companies and mainly small and medium enterprises cannot keep up with rising costs and high taxes, while turnovers are dropping and they fail one after another. Unemployment is rising and prospects for new investments will not appear until the fate of the entire Eurozone becomes clear.

At the beginning of next week, the leaders of the supervisory Troika from the International Monetary Fund, the European Central Bank and the European Commission will return to Athens to sit down again at the negotiating table to discuss in detail the conditions on the new financial aid of € 130 billion. This time, Greek citizens expect that the government of Lucas Papademos would make a better deal than the first Memorandum signed by the administration of George Papandreou.