Greece’s Deputy Finance Minister Katerina Papanatsiou, said on Tuesday that the Tsipras government is considering a package of tax relief measures, such as lowering the minimum tax rate and VAT.
During an interview with state broadcaster ERT, Papanatsiou said the country’s economy was going well so much that “we have asked the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) to repay part of our loans to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the favourable climate allows us to offer some relief to citizens. We are no longer in a programme awaiting for the end of the year, as we did in the past to offer what's left to the ones we choose."
Papanatsiou underlined that the ministry was considering several recommendations and that a decision will be reached after the Easter holidays (Greek Orthodox Easter is April 28). Among them is a reduction of VAT and a reduction of the minimum tax rate. Papanatsiou said the government has made moves to relief some of the burdens from the middle-class, such as lower a tax rate from 26% to 22% for professionals and a lowering of social contributions.
"Our policy focuses on the many, not on the few. We are also interested on enterprises and offer tax incentives," the minister said, adding that the government will table to Parliament its plans making it easier to enterprises and taxpayers to repay their arrears to the state and pension funds.
