Fair distribution of takings
Extra cash from taxing the self-employed will go to hospitals, schools and the vulnerable
The government’s new measures to combat tax evasion by self-employed professionals will be a source of strengthening budget spending in sensitive sectors, such as health and education, from an estimated additional revenue of 874 million euros that will be secured. After the abolition of the fee for practicing certain professions, these takings will be limited to €606 million.
Ahead of the submission of the 2024 budget on November 21, the Ministry of National Economy and Finance is modifying the provisions of the first draft, presented in early October, to account for the additional revenue and allocate them to specific destinations.
According to information, most of the extra revenue, in the order of €400 million, is intended to add to hospital funding. Another important amount, about €100 million, is planned to cover operating costs in education.
Further takings are likely to be distributed to the social groups that are more vulnerable to price hikes, such as in food and energy.
With these choices, Minister Kostis Hatzidakis essentially responds to the reactions caused by his bill, mainly from circles that systematically call for an increase in the state’s social spending
“The intervention for the self-employed is based on the self-evident, in my opinion, position that a self-employed person cannot earn less – and get taxed less – than an employee with the lowest salary,” Hatzidakis tells Kathimerini.
“Of course this can happen at the start of the activity or when extraordinary circumstances occur which we recognize, and for this reason we have provided for special tax reductions. But when it is repeated for a number of years, when some appear with very large turnovers and permanent losses or minimal profits, then it is the state’s duty to intervene,” he notes.
“That is our obligation to consistent taxpayers who are either unable or unwilling to hide their incomes and still bear the burden of tax evaders; an obligation, also, toward the beneficiaries of social benefits,” he adds.
