Up to four million tax-payers stand to benefit from the raft of tax breaks and other measures that Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis announced at the 89th Thessaloniki International Fair (TIF) on Saturday.
The package includes a general reduction of all taxation rates by 2 percentage points, apart from the starting rate of 9%, for incomes between 10,000-40,000 euros per year, with an additional rate reductions depending on the number of children and zero taxes for young workers up to 25 years old from 2027.
There will also be lower ENFIA property tax in villages, lower VAT on remote islands and a gradual elimination of the so-called ‘personal difference’ for half a million pensioners.
For incomes ranging from 40,000-60,000, an intermediate taxation rate of 39% is being introduced, instead of 44% at present.
Young workers earning up to 20,000 euros a year will pay no tax and then be taxed at 9% (instead of 22%) until age 30.
Taxation on annual income from rents of between 12,000-24,000 will be reduced to 25% instead of the present rate of 35%.
Additionally, as the prime minister posted on X, there will be a reduction of presumed income based on indicators such as residences and cars and a 50% reduction of imputed income for self-employed persons living in settlements of up to 1,500 people outside Attica.
Furthermore, new mothers will be exempted from taxation on imputed income on the year they give birth and for the two following years.
There is a bright disappointment in the society as the measures package does not include anything to lower the skyrocketing prices in food, essential items and energy via VAT reduction for example, nor increases for salaries, pensions or allowances for the needy.
PS KTG understands that in the average the benefit from the tax breaks measures would be just 100 to maximum 600 euros per year, amounts that would vanish in a few months due to the ongoing high cost of living.
So the lowest income earners, i.e. below €10,000 who suffer from price rises the most, receive no help. Incomes between €10,000 and €40,000 will receive a tax reduction of 2 % while those between €40,000 and €60,000 will receive a reduction of 5 %. Rather than “progressive taxation” that seems to be “help the rich”.
up to 8,450 annual is tax-free anyway
Still 5% for the rich, the minister himself, his sponsors and friends. Only 2% for the majority of everyday Greek people. :-(. Stop voting conservative.
But that starts to reduce at a very low income. Once you are above €12,000 the rebate gradually reduces. In the UK the tax free band is £12,570 and it diesn’t start to reduce until your income goes above £100,000.
What’s the point of comparing Greece to the UK? It’s like comparing oranges and apples. We could spend all day giving examples. It is well known Greece’s tax system is unfair and Greeks are over taxed. EU statistics confirm that and have for years. It is also well known the whole system – economy and taxation, favours the oligarch industrialists. As for the rich getting a free pass while middle class and poor people are over taxed, well, that’s the case in many OECD countries, and it’s hardly new, hence the high rise in income inequality world wide. I’m Greek and, while I do not mean to be rude, I find it tiresome when Brits come here and say “in the UK it’s like this” I am not defending the Greek government, far from it.