Self-employed infuriated by OAEE head’s comments

Self-employed professionals were enraged by the provocative assertion of their social security fund’s (OAEE) president, Dimitris Tsakiris, who said that whoever is unable to pay his contributions in combination with the excessive taxation and considers it patriotic should take their family and move to Bulgaria.

The OAEE chief traveled to Florina and Veria, in western and central Macedonia, last week to inform people about changes to the social security system, and there were moments of tension during some of the discussions with local professionals.

Speaking to Kathimerini, Tsakiris said his statement was misinterpreted, claiming that what he intended to highlight was the vivacity and creativity of the Greeks, which he said should not be put to waste finding ways to avoid paying taxes and contributions, but rather be used to benefit the domestic economy.

In both meetings, Tsakiris and his deputy, Dimitris Christoforidis, stressed that today’s social security contributions barely cover 50 percent of OAEE’s needs for pension payments, that contribution evasion is a practice that must stop in the domain of small and medium-sized enterprises, and that the 11 billion euros of expired debts to OAEE were not created in the last couple of years.