Income distribution

Prime Minister Ahmet Davuto?lu has announced a series of measures worth around 7.5 billion Turkish Liras to increase employment, spanning from vocational training support for employers to tax reliefs, ahead of parliamentary elections in June.

Bulgaria, which has one of the lowest corporate tax rates in the EU, has objected to the introduction of a 26% withholding tax on all transactions originating from sources in Bulgaria, Cyprus and Ireland by Greece.

By Prokopis Hatzinikolaou

Greek landlords will still have to pay income tax for the rents that their tenants have failed to pay, at a rate ranging from 11 to 33 percent, according to a circular issued on Friday by the general secretary for public revenues, Katerina Savvaidou.

The Government on Wednesday passed a new Tax Code and a Code of Tax Procedure.

The minimum wage in Romania could reach a level comparable to other European Union countries in 2018 or 2018, following several raises; the first one should be on July 1, Labour, Family, Social Protection and Elderly Minister Rovana Plumb declared on Tuesday.

Photo credit: (c) Cristian NISTOR / AGERPRES FLOW

By Evgenia Tzortzi

Lotteries with rewards for receipts collection by taxpayers, which could even include cash prizes, as well as free drinks and tickets to events and museums for tourists visiting Greece are among the incentives proposed by the General Secretariat for Public Revenues to combat tax evasion by promoting the use of electronic transactions.

From 2008, before Greece signed a bailout deal with its creditors setting out a raft of cost-cutting measures, until 2012, the tax burden on lower-income Greek households skyrocketed by 337.7 percent compared to just 9 percent for high-income groups, a recent study by Athens-based professors Tassos Giannitsis and Stavros Zografakis found.

By Prokopis Hatzinikolaou

Over 3.4 million taxpayers have either failed to fulfill their tax obligations or have avoided paying their dues to the state in the last couple of years. Since 2013 they have run up debts of 21.6 billion euros to the tax authorities, most of which concern arrears of below 3,000 euros each, which they can now repay in up to 100 installments.

The National Union Bloc (BNS) chairman Dumitru Costin told AGERPRES on Thursday that the current proposal of modification of the Tax Code puts big pressure on the incomes from wages and discourages work.

Photo credit: (c) Angelo BREZOIANU / AGERPRES ARCHIVE

Close to 10% of Bulgarians fall into the category of ''extremely poor'', living with under 40% of the income earned by the middle class.

This has been shown by a research conducted by the Institute for Market Economy on the issue of poverty in Bulgaria and was presented by Petar Ganev Tuesday, as reported by OFF News.