Record low taxable incomes

Greek taxpayers are this year set to declare the lowest amount in taxable incomes (for 2020) since the country entered the eurozone in 2001, with that figure not even expected to surpass 70 billion euros.

Besides the impact that will have on income tax takings, the artificial impoverishment to be reflected in tax declarations will also have other consequences: It will lead to a great rise in the number of social handout recipients, the payment of higher benefits to current recipients and the taxing of more taxpayers based on their assets (the "tekmiria" system), which is set to force the Finance Ministry to review this system for this year at least.

The government has already made provisions for higher social handouts through the Labor Ministry, raising their projected sum for 2021 to €4 billion, against €3.368 billion in 2020.

The budget estimate for income...