Public economics

The harsher penalties for tax dodgers provided by a law passed last October are set to come into force, having received the green light in a circular issued by the general secretary for public revenue, Giorgos Pitsilis. These penalties include imprisonment in cases of large tax evasion, as the state mechanism is making an effort to combat the illegal nonpayment of taxes.

The Ministry of Defence has a regular problem with the preparation of its public procurement orders. This became clear after it stopped three public procurement orders in the last month.

Prices of cigarettes will increase as of January 1st, 2017.

This became clear from the tax law amendments proposed by the Finance Ministry, reported Nova TV. The amendments include a higher excise tax on cigarettes.

This comes as no surprise since Bulgaria has to fulfil the minimum excise requirements in the European Union by 2018.

As of 2018, it will be mandatory for tax declarations of natural persons to be filed electronically.

This is envisaged in the project for amendments to tax laws published on the website of the Finance Ministry.

Greek property owners will be burdened with a new tax from January 2017, as the government plans to reintroduce a betterment tax after it was defunct for the past two years. The Greek government had attempted to implement the tax in 2014, but widespread social backlash and the confusion caused by its calculation forced authorities to suspend it for 2 years.

Brussels' decision to tighten the rules on public-private partnerships is raising serious obstacles to the plans of Greece's Infrastructures Ministry for a new generation of projects through concession contracts.

Tax revenues missed their budget target for the first four months of the year by 207 million euros, Finance Ministry figures showed on Friday, but the major decrease in state expenditure, by almost 2.3 billion compared to the target, led to an excessive primary surplus in the year to end-April: Against a target for a primary surplus of 2.1 billion euros, it amounted to 2.7 billion.

Owners of land plots are among the property holders who will have to pay more tax for their assets this year, according to the new regulations concerning the Single Property Tax.

The majority of taxpayers will suffer retroactive tax increases that affect their incomes from January 1, 2016, according to a bill that was to be passed into law in Parliament on Sunday night.

The level of the income tax-free ceiling for Greece's salary workers, pensioners and farmers will be determined by the number of children dependent on each taxpayer.

Citizens' capacity to pay taxes is diminishing by the year, and the latest data from the General Secretariat of Public Revenues show debts to the state on on the rise: In the first quarter of the year taxpayers' debts expanded by 3.22 billion euros, taking the sum of all debts to the tax authorities to more than 87 billion euros.