More than one month after the implementation of the increased Value Added Tax on catering items and beverages, the Finance Ministry issued an clarifying circular. It is the absurdity that only a Greek official can think of. News portal NewsItdescribed a simple example: The Bougatsa, a pie made of puff pastry that contains cheese or sweet custard.
What a Sin! Cheeeeeeese! 23% VAT
Yummyyyy! Sweet! 13% VAT
According to FinMin, the salty one, has 23% V.A.T. but the sweet 13%. The sweet is cheaper only for take -away. If you sit at the table of a cafe and eat it you will pay 23% V.A.T. The VAT difference has to do with the FinMin definition, that, ” a pastry pie (sausage, cheese, spinach etc) has a 23% VAT “unless it contains sweeteners, that give it a sweet taste. Then it is considered sweet and has 13% VAT”, so the circular. As some puff pastries contain sugar, I hope they won’t start digging and revise the VAT accordingly and on the spot.
A major VAT problem arises if you buy the bougatsa wrapped to take away, but you get a bit while you’re still in the shop. HA! You will most probably pay a 10% VAT difference.
Problems will occur also in school canteens that get equal to cafes and restaurants. Should a pupil get a bougatsa and make the mistake to sit at the table…. UPPP goes the VAT!
If consuming a 12cm x 12cm pastry becomes so complicated, you can imagine how complicated real complicated things are….
Also“Kollyva” the grains-nuts-fruits sweet offered for the memory of the dead will be taxed differently. If it is served on a tray like this….
VAT is 23% – Death is bitter anyway..
But if it is served in paper bags like this…
VAT 13%
The custom has it, the Priest bless the Kollyva on a tray and then it is packed in paper bags and given to the people.
My friend, we have 23% VAT on in principal everything, except books, which is only 6%. Not to mention taxes on everything else that surrounds you! I pay 16 different kinds of taxes according to my tax declaration sheet, outside of a rip off salary tax!!! If you starte getting upset over salt or sweet taxes, you will go crazy sooner than you think!!!
A good expression is “Never argue with idiots! They will only drag you down to their level and beat you by experience”!!! kalinixta and have a good evening!!!
The criticism is againgst thw insinity with two different VATs for the same thing. You ‘re with the saying, however… we don’t argue with them, we have to live with them… even let them rule us lol
kalinixta and thanks for reading KTG
@Torsten… Hey, you stole my line!! ;-)… Being from DK I know how the taxes are up there.. I dont have a problem paying taxes as long as I can see that the money we pay are spend proper.. Thats the whole issue here in Greece and one of the biggest reasons why people are refusing to pay anymore, because the money just goes in one big black hole.. Greeks get nothing for their taxmoney.. They still have to pay each time they need a doctor (including often money underneath the table), for their kids to have a proper education ect..
There are no trust in the system here and for very good reasons.. And the steps they are taking now, its only gonna make matters worse. There is a great deal of psychology in this situation. More distrust is all they are getting out of it.. And even for those who wanna pay their taxes, they can hardly do so..
Wonderful! No we are not insane at all here. It is a very clever ploy to create confusion for ‘the enemy’.
Who ‘the enemy’ is? Well every living creature in Greece that does not belong to ‘the inner circle’. And as long as they are taxing the living, why not tax the dead? There are much more people dead then living here. It will be a goldmine!
How wonderful it will be to tax Plato, Aristotle, Alexander, Leonidas, Agamemnon, Kleitamestra, Kasandra, Melina Merkouri, Bouboulina… the list is endless! All the financial worries will be gone in one foul swoop.
Oh, and please include those more then 100.000 ‘ghosts’ that IKA found on their pension books.
Tax prisoners too!
Krauts will build you new perfect prisons with cheap workers inside.
Bougatsa with kraut??? Sorry that’s way too filthy. Almost not funny anymore! (Bit like using that K-word to describe Germans, IMO)