We have said many times that Greek Finance Ministry taxes everything that stands, walks, flies or crawls. And here comes the news to confirm what it seemed to be an assumption and a joke. The Finance Ministry sent a property tax notice to Greek Olympic Committee (NOC) demanding 4.5 million euro as property tax (ENFIA) for the ancient Panathenaic Olympic Stadium in Athens, the Academy in Ancient Olympia, the Karaiskakis football stadium in Piraeus and the swimming center on Vasilissis Sofias Avenue.
The Panathenaic Stadium or Panathinaiko (Greek: Παναθηναϊκό στάδιο), also known as the Kallimarmaro (Καλλιμάρμαρο, meaning the “beautifully marbled”), is a multi-purpose stadium used for several events and athletics in Athens that hosted the first modern Olympic Games in 1896. Reconstructed from the remains of an ancient Greek stadium, the Panathenaic is the only major stadium in the world built entirely of white marble from Mount Penteli). and is one of the oldest in the world. It was built in ca. 566 BC.
In ancient times, the stadium on this site was used to host the athletic portion of the Panathenaic Games, in honor of the Goddess Athena. During classical times, it had wooden seating. In 329 BC it was rebuilt in marble by the archon Lycurgus and in 140 AD was enlarged and renovated by Herodes Atticus, giving a seated capacity of 50,000.
Apparently the Finance Ministry considers these public sites and stadiums as ‘real estate’ belonging to the Greek Olympic Committee and the tax amount was calculated on the basis of ‘objective values” and square meters.
Greek NOC is a public entity and does not pay property taxes.
According to To Vima Online edition, the Greek Finance Ministry blames the administrative personnel of NOC for mistakes while filling the property registration form. “NOC can still correct the mistakes,” the FinMini said in a statement.
PS I wouldn’t wonder, if the next property tax notice will be sent to Acropolis, the Poseidon Temple at Cap Sounion and the Olympia site.
