Discussion For New Tax Bill Opens in Parliament

Greek parliament (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Discussion of the new tax bill opened in Parliament on Thursday, with criticism by deputies of parties in the governing coalition and the opposition. Coalition partner PASOK's sponsor, Paris Koukoulopoulos, said that the bill "does not satisfy the request for the fair distribution of tax burden" and warned that "the discussion that ended ingloriously in February 2012 with the walkout of all parties over the national tax bill will start again in the next few days on PASOK's initiative."

Coalition partner DIMAR's sponsor, Asimina Xyrotiri, criticised the Finance Ministry for not putting down the initial necessary steps to fight tax evasion and establish a process to stop it, but added that the party would vote for the bill "as a necessary prerequisite under the country's circumstances."

The main opposition sponsor, Radical Left Coalition (SYRIZA) deputy Dimitris Yelalis, said the tax bill had "only a revenue-collecting feature" and charged that the bill "punishes freelancers, trades people and small businesses by taxing them from the very first euro they make, and destroys farmers, since it makes no distinction between small-scale farmers and large enterprises."

Communist Party of Greece (KKE) sponsor, Nikos Karathanasopoulos, charged that "the state budget contains 31 pages of tax exemptions," which he said "reflects what's happening in shipping, where profits from the exploitation of ships is exempted; this will happen to all sectors of the economy, with the free movement of capital set out by the EU's Maastricht Treaty."

Prime Minister Antonis Samaras and Finance Minister Yannis Stournaras are hoping for the bill to be voted into law before the upcoming Eurogroup meeting in Brussels on January 21. The bill is part of a prerequisite to receiving the next loan tranche by March. (AMNA)