March tax revenues beat target
Tax revenues in March were 24 percent above the budget target, the head of the Independent Authority for Public Revenue, Giorgos Pitsilis, told the 13th Athens Tax Forum convened by the Athens Chamber of Commerce and Industry on Monday, amid calls for more rational taxation that would allow the private economy to grow.
Tax offices reported revenues of 1.87 billion euros last month against a target for 1.5 billion, Pitsilis said, while tax revenues amounted to 6.9 billion euros in the first quarter of the year, 8.3 percent above the budget target of 6.37 billion. He attributed this growth to “the effort for equality among all taxpayers and the restoration of tax justice.”
While admitting that tax dodging may be understandable in the current environment, he warned “the biggest risk we are facing is the justification of tax evasion.”
Chamber head Simos Anastasopoulos warned that “as long as the investment and business environment does not change, investors will only buy what they consider cheap” and stressed that “growth can only come from the private economy and rely mainly on foreign and domestic direct investment.”
The chairman of the Chamber’s Tax Committee, Stavros Costas, added that “instead of the state blackmailing taxpayers with the ‘suspicion’ argument, it should meet its own obligations.”