Tax hikes and card use helped primary surplus exceed its target

Excessive taxation and taxpayers' increased use of plastic money in their payments to the state led to the creation of a primary budget surplus of almost 4.4 billion euros in 2016, according to provisional end-of-year figures released on Tuesday by the Finance Ministry.

The taxes imposed in 2016, amounting to some 5 billion euros, sent budget revenues soaring last year as they exceeded the target set by 1.8 billion euros.

Increased value-added tax rates, the abolition of the VAT discount of 30 percent for a number of Aegean islands, new income tax rates, the solidarity levy hike, and the increase in the special consumption tax on cigarettes and heating oil are just a few of the taxes that burdened Greeks last year and raised state takings.

On the negative side of the 2016 budget was the Public Investment Program's 500-million-euro drop in spending, as well as the...