What’s Up in Greece on Feb 1/12? tagged: , , , , , , , , , ,

What’s Up in Greece on Feb 1/12?

Posted by keeptalkinggreece in Very Mix

The ‘hell’ is up again in Greece with the Troika demanding new tax hikes, wages to fall down to €100-400 per month and the cold weather front holding  us in his icy hand.  Greeks’ new hobby is ‘heating your home while counting how much you will pay’. At the same time, many households struggle to pay the emergency property tax or ask exemption standing line outside the local public power company (DEH) offices in the freezing cold, as I saw in Skai TV. The atmosphere among the  government coalition partners is not good either, as there seem to be some disagreement on the additional austerity measures of the Troika. PM Papademos will invite his coalition partners for a meeting most likely on Friday.

In his report, IMF’s representative Poul Thomsen wants shocking measures that would torpedo the Greek economy. Douple the Value Added Tax, double the taxes in bank savings and the taxes in revenues from property leasing,  elimination of the tax free cap, special taxes on cigarettes and wines [ i assume, Thomsen drinks beer...] There are only some of the tax hikes measures. (You don’t seriously want me to translate 114 pages…). BTW: Wasn’t it the IMF claiming that raising taxes is not the solution? I might be wrong though and I ‘m definitely too lazy to search for the relevant news right now.

Furthermore, Thomsen inderectly proposes hunger wages between €100-400 per month. “Employers should not pay insurance contributions for wages between 100 and 400 euro. For wages above this amount,  employers should pay higher contributions”.

This report aims to ‘help‘ the Greek government in the formulation of the new taxation law.

In real life,  employers favor already the insurance-free work, as one out of four Greeks work without insurance.

80,000 health care employees at public hospitals were shocked to see their February wages were just a couple of euros. In one example, a nurse, mother of two children received only 18.90 euro. Why? Because the employees were included in the new payroll with two months delay. The wages they had received in these last two months had to be deducted from their February salary.

I remember a friend, a doctor at the public hospital, who received zero euro last November, and had still to pay back 100 euro because tax-increases and wages-decreases were deducted retrospectively from 1.1.2011.

Despite the recession, Greece is the EU champion in consumers’s prices. A survey conducted by the Ministry of Development and Competitiviness came to the conclusion that multinational companies sell their goods in the Greece at +96.5% compared to other EU countries.

The Finance Ministry plans to establish a 3-member committee where property owners can appeal in case the tax office had rejected their request to be expempted from or to pay the minimum 0.5 euro/sq. m. of emergency property tax. {And if we don’t die , we will live to see

Doctors and health care personnel at public hospitals started a work stoppage at 11 am. Only emergencies will be treated.

Workers at Trolley will have a work stoppage on Thursday, Jan 2/2012 from 11 am to 4 pm due to general assembly.

The weather is expected to get worst on Wednesday evening, with strong snowfall and later strong rainfall, while at the Ionian Sea wind will be blowing with an intensity of 10 Beaufort. Many schools are closed today due to snowfall even some northern suburbs of Athens, due to frost and snow this morning.

Have a great “haircut” month!

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