Sibyl spoke and the audience tries to untie the knot of magic oracling especially those concerning the new austerity measures. All those who watched the press conference of Finance minister Evangelos Venizelos via live television broadcast have been wondering about the absence of announcing the new measures. The trick was simple: the moment the lights went off, that is when Greek networks stopped the live links. The press conference was continuing with the Finance Minister answering journalists’s questions. He revealed some of the measures, especially some referring to new taxation system. Furthermore, as the measures were lost in the rhetorical skills of the minister, there are jsut a few things I can tell you.
At the same time, Evangelos Venizelos’s mood was not at its best and even slammed some journalist saying ” I don’t like the tone of your comment” and turned for the next question.
To tell you the truth I don’t feel like listing the measures, because I don’t have a clear clue.
Venizelos told the press among others that:
-The tax-free will be reduced from €12,000 to €9,500 for those under 30 years old and those over 65.
-The taxation of the lower income of 5,000 euro yearly will be ‘retrospective’ for incomes in 2011, and not as of January 1st 2012.
-People must collect many receipts but that they will have less tax-free reductions. For example if yearly income is 60K euro, one must collect receipts for having spend 30K. If not, the taxpayer will be punished with extra tax. The receipts do not include utilities …. And yet, the tax-free from the receipts will be minimal.
-The new pay roll with 20% cuts in the expenditure for civil servants wages. However he stressed that 80% of the civil servants will not be affected by these measure, and that 10% of them will have wages rises of 7%!”
-There will be some exemptions from the high tax in the heating oil according to geographical criteria.
and I understood that there may be lay-offs in the public sector should the measure of ‘labour reserve’ fail.
If you insist knowing what else he said about “primary surplus in 2012”, commitments to meet targets etc etc , please, google <Venizelos Greece> in the news section. I’m done! Honestly!
