IT is really amazing how quickly the government forgot its elections promises. Didn’t we hear that the emergency property tax would be cancelled and all the different taxes imposed on properties would be replaced by a flat tax? If you still remember of this sentence by Antonis Samaras, you’d better delete it from your brains’ hard disk. As Samaras did after May 31st, when he was announcing the ambitious programme of Nea Dimocratia…
The emergency property tax bills for 2012 will be sent via Power Public Company DEH in the same envelope as the electricity bill. However on a separate bill sheet.
The E.P.T. for 2012 will arrive in 5 installments, with the first to come in August and the rest four in two-months intervals, together with the electricity bill.
Property owners will be able to pay the tax via DEH-offices, banks and Greek Post (ELTA) branches.
In case, a property owner will not pay the EPT, he/she will have to deal with the tax office and not with DEH.
According to the lew legislation DEH will not cut the electricity, as it was the case until April 2012.
The state targets to collect revenues of 2.2 billion euro from the Emergency Property Tax.
UPDATE July 14/2012: As the Troika does not agree with the government plans, emergency property tax 2012 would most probably be tagged in the electricity bill again.
PS And if we are still alive, we keep paying regular and emergency taxes. The ‘social justice’ promised before the elections may come after our death…
Sic Transire Politicus Promissionem 🙂
Anyone who as stupid enough to believe and vote for Samaras, deserves to pay the property taxes and suffer. The rest of us should fight this piece of banking fascism, which is nothing other than economic terrorism — sponsored by politicians on behalf of banks and financiers.
I can forsee a time when we will have political trials of all those caught up in the destruction of European economies, acting in the interests of the rich. Of course, in order to get to that position, there will have to be extreme suffering, poverty, malnutrition and deaths. However, these politicians have chosen this course of action and will one day have to pay the price.
therefore only Samaras/Venizelos/Kouvelis voters should pay the emergency property tax and the non-voters should be excempted 🙂
Don’t bet on having any political trials. I’m still waiting for them in the US.
I remember (then Treasury Secretary) Paulson calling together Congressional leaders over a weekend, showing them a single page bill he needed passed by Monday giving him a Trillion dollars or else the world would come to an end.
When asked who was responsible for this financial catastrophe his response was, “if your house is on fire, you call the fire department first and worry about who set the fire later”. I’m still waiting for the “investigation”. Ha Ha.
Look at (former New Jersey Governor), the “magician” who made 2 Billion dollars of customer funds “disappear” from M.F. Global. Seen him in a courtroom yet?
The “boys in the club” NEVER go to jail, only non-members like Madoff or Stanford do.
Indeed, your last sentence is quite correct. That is why you have to change the club and put new members into the new club. Only in that way will justice be done.
Fully agree with you there William. Ditto in Ireland. Not one charge against any of them, leave alone a conviction. The boyo who borrowed 250 million from his own bank to buy shares in his own bank (aren’t there rules against things like this) was once the richest man in Ireland. Worth 5 billion or so. He has been declared bankrupt, was found to be in contempt of court after the court decided he really couldn’t sell 25 million or so worth of property portfolio to his son in law for a laptop (NO JOKE!) and promptly started hiding assets from the receivers. Where is he? Playing golf with his mates. One of the bank managers involved in this has 4 full time body guards with him, appointed by the Irish government and paid for by the Irish taxpayer. their afraid somebody will bump him off. This guy wrote himself 127 million € worth of unsecured loans. Politicians openly screwign the taxpayers for millions, and nothing happens. The system is rotten to the core, and it’s high time people take off the blinkers. But there is light at the end of the tunnel. Tony Blair is apparently thinking about going into politics again…:)
Before the elections the “memory of understanding” was already signed, which include paying the property tax for 2012. Why did the majority still vote for the old gang, I still don’t get it. Now we pay. Again and again. Also salaries would not be cut down anymore, well also because the MOU mine was cut 20% from 1st June. So whatever promises Samaras made to get votes, he’ll keep NONE!!!
I don’t think people really voted for the “old gang”. Yes, of course ND managed to get all their foreign buddies behind them and scared the living daylight out of mainly the older people. After all, it was not about the people of Greece, it was about the banks of the world, and ND were the only ones who would guarantee no upset there.
I think it is more a case of how the figures added up. I don’t know if it would have made a immediate difference if they had managed to get the vote they needed, what I do know is that SYRIZA were more than likely denied that vote through their own inexperience. The BIG mistake they made, and it seems to be endemic with all left wing parties in Europe, is they left the poorest of the poorest, those in the run down areas of the cities etc, the man on the street, to the fascists. That is where they lost the election. Yes, it does mean helping little old ladies cross the road, and organizing food collections etc. which is what they did not do. People with their backs against the wall need action, not retoric. And fascists anywhere seem to know this very well, and act on it. For all the wrong reasons, but they get the vote…
I agree that Syriza does not have strong grass-roots organisation, and needs to act quick on that. However, the external pressures on Greek voters may well have been more important in pushing people into voting for ND as a “safe pair of hands”, in the belief that without EU bailout moneys Greece could fail as a country. This propaganda should never have been tolerated, is illegal under EC law, international law and the Greek constitution, and the Greek media simply repeated the threats.
However, now that Syriza has been invaded by the old Pasok mafia, I doubt that a Syriza government is worth electing. The chance for change was lost, through cowardice and an elderly conservative population with many young voters not participating. Democracy has now failed in Greece.
Don’t forget the negative data about tourism that was officially published a few days before the elections.
WHY CANT THE GREEK TAXMAN MAKE THE THOUSANDS OF UNREGISTERED HOUSES LEGAL ON RHODES…??? BOTH GREEK AND BRITS WHO ARE STILL AFTER YEARS ON BUILDERS ELECTICITY… THEY GET NO EMERGENCY PROPERTY TAXES FROM THEM…!!! SIMPLE SOLUTION… IF THERE IS A HOUSE THERE FOR THE EYE TO SEE… IT SHOULD BE LIABLE TO PAY THIS EMERGENCY TAX…!! TOO COMPLICATED FOR THE GREEK TAXMAN HEY…???
probably Greek taxman was scared by your shouting !?
Imho it’s ok to SHOUT at officials who are asleep during work hours.
i know. I learned that in Germany 🙂
See? There’s much that can be learned from Germany!
😀
How much more taxes we can afford?
When they are allowed to, banks will bleed people dry. Since you have consistently elected incompetent and corrupt politicians who support EU policies (set by Germany and France, in their own interests), then the answer is you will be bled dry. Or worse.
Whatever we think about the property tax, it is probably there to stay. I have never seen a newly introduced tax disappear again, in any country.
On the contrary, they get higher.
At least this tax in its existing form is socially just. In my logic a person with a big house in an expensive neighborhood in general must be more wealthy than a person with a small house in a “normal” area.
A flat tax for everybody would be totally unreasonable, and in fact should be more in line with right wing policy.
this tax is additional to the other property taxes. Where is the social justice when a pensioner with 600 euro/m has to pay 800 euro additional tax for his home? BTW: the Supreme Administrative Court declared the emergency property tax is not against the constitution as long as it is not permanent but temporary (originally for 2 years, 2011, 2012).