A court in Thessaloniki rejected the case of a 90-year-old woman to be exempted from the emergency property tax via electricity bills for social reasons. The bett-ridden woman who suffers from diabetes, filed the case claiming that she is unable to pay the emergency property tax amounting 1.100 euro because her has no other income than a pension of 900 euro per month. The woman asked the court to provide temporary protection to her because the Greek Finance Ministry has ordered the power company to cut off the electricity to those who don’t pay the tax.
The elderly offered to pay the amount of 60 euro only, which corresponds to the power consumption of her household. And noted that the emergency property tax via the power company is “unconstitutional, unfair and illegal”.
The court rejected her case but the trial for provisional measures will be in court at the beginning of February 2012.
Speaking to newspaper Espresso, her son, 66, suffers from kidney disease said: Our pensions sum up together € 1.933 per month. From this we spend €600 for a caretaker for my mother. We cannot pay the first installment of the property tax, which is €500.”
Their lawyer stressed that the property tax through the electricity bill means that the power company DEH breaks the contract with the consumer who is obliged to pay only the power consumption, while the property tax refers to the state.
Thousands of needy Greeks are desperately rushing to lawyers offices, civil groups and municipalities trying to find ways to escape the emergency propert tax under the blackmailing to have their electricity cut off. Already ten municipalities in Athens offer legal advice to needy citizens. However the citizens can hardly escape the poll tax.
More than 65,000 Greeks recieved so far the ‘swollen’ electricity bills this month with the first installment of the tax to be paid. Many bills had a series of mistakes concerning the property square meters, the value zone and the age of the property. The Finance Ministry insists, people first pay and then correct the mistakes….
Greek Taxpayers Association, Athens Lawyers’ Association and some municipalities filed a case against the poll tax at the Supreme Administrative Court claiming it is against the Constitution because it does not take into consideration the real income of the taxpayers, among others. There are very few exceptions from the poll tax. The court will take up the case at the beginning of December 2011.
BTW: The Finance Ministry describes the emergency propert tax as ’emergency fee’. However the fees usually ‘redeeming”. What’s the compensation in this case? Oh, that the Greeks will remain in the euro-zone lol
In Kalamata a court issued an injunction banning the PPC from cutting off the electricity supply to a local family that refused to pay emergency property tax, because their tax was based on a wrong price band and wrong square meters. That’s good news.
http://www.skai.gr/news/greece/article/186534/antigrafotoudikaiosi-katanaloti-ston-opoio-eihe-upologistei-lathos-i-ektakti-eisfora/