Overtaxation sapping Greece's prospects, business federation warns in report

Greece is a rare case of a European country that taxes employment as aggressively as property, the Hellenic Federation of Enterprises (SEV) says in a special report which emphasizes that taxation is a huge disincentive to both employers and workers.

According to SEV's report, for a worker to receive 40,000 euros net, an employer in Greece must pay out 100,000 euros, with 60,000 euros going to the state. The burden is high for lower salaries too. To offer a worker a 20,000-euro salary, an employer must pay another 15,750 euros in taxes and social security contributions. That is a tax rate of 44 percent - one of the highest in the European Union, with only a handful of countries imposing a higher levy.

Overtaxation has struck the Greek middle class particularly hard, particularly in the private sector, SEV notes. As a result, the most productive members of the working...