New tax bill in Greece

15 January 2013

New income and corporation tax measures have been approved by Greece in an emergency tax bill unveiled this week.

There are three groups of people who will pay less income tax, according to the new tax bill:

• Those who earn up to €25,000 will pay 22%
• Those who earn between €25,001 and  €42,000 will be taxed at 32%
• The people who earn more than €42,001 will pay 42%

Those who earn up to €21,000 could receive a tax credit of EUR 2,100 and families who have children will be eligible for benefits. The distributed dividends tax paid by companies will decline from 25% to 10% and corporation tax will be raised by 6%, from 20% to 26%.

The bill got a mixed response with the Greek Government describing it as a “fiscal necessity and responsibility” while critics slammed it as a “plan of destitution”. It is hoped that the measures will raise €2.5bn (USD 3.3bn) by the end of 2014.

These measures are a condition of further aid from the European Commission, the International Monetary Fund and the European Central Bank.