Major slide in VAT takings from popular Greek islands
The General Secretariat for Public Revenues has found that value-added tax revenues plunged by about 40 percent in the first five months of the year in the country’s most popular island holiday destinations.
This dramatic decline was recorded on islands including Myconos, Santorini, Paros, Corfu, Zakynthos and Cephalonia even before VAT was hiked in the tourism hot spots on June 1.
Experienced ministry officials speak of a disorganized tax monitoring mechanism, while taxpayers are particularly reluctant to meet their obligations. Notably, the data collected include the Easter holiday period too.
At the same time 15 SYRIZA deputies have tabled a question in Parliament for Finance Minister Euclid Tsakalotos, asking him to launch a disciplinary process against a regional director for scolding tax officers at the Nafplio tax authority in the Peloponnese who did not meet the targets set for them.
The jurisdiction of this particular tax authority’s inspection department includes Porto Heli, the so-called “village of the offshore companies,” and three local company inspections ordered in 2012 remain unfinished in 2016.
