Millions of Greeks were ‘deeply touched and burst into tears” this morning to hear Deputy Prime Minister and PASOk heavy weight, Theodoros Pangalos to declare, he has no money to pay the additional property tax for his 58 real estates. ” I have to pay €7,000 for the extra property levy but I don’t have this money,” Pangalos told the stunned anchormen of private Mega TV and the overemotional reacting audience. “Therefore I will have to sell a real estate”. Upon the question as to what if he can’t find a buyer, he answered “Then Venizelos [FinMin] can come and arrest me!”
Following this populist answer, the anchormen burst into a loud laughter, but the taxes-ridden Greeks at home raised their hands and formed the well-known Greek gesture “Moutza” towards their TV screen.
Pangalos claims to have these real estates via heritage. According to his official income declaration, accessible to all Greeks, in the year 2010 he had income of more than half a million euro. (TO VIMA.gr)
Plentiful and colourful are the comments by Greeks on Internet forums. Many doubt that for 58 properties the special tax is only 7,500 euro. One user even commented that most probably Pangalos confused the tax with the ‘7,500 potato chips he eats per meal’…
PS However he stressed that “the Greek households have exhausted their taxation limits”.
Video: Pangalos Interview in Greek
