Taxes fetch more thanks to rate cuts

This year’s Single Property Tax (ENFIA) is set to fetch 150 million euros more than the government had originally expected, according to the estimates of a senior Finance Ministry official.

The official said the 22 percent average reduction of ENFIA this past summer has increased the collection rate by about 5 percent. This means that a significant part of the projected loss of revenues (due to the reduction) will be covered.

Deputy Finance Minister Theodoros Skylakakis announced on Monday that last month’s tax revenues beat the target by 117 million euros. Another factor that boosted tax revenues was the better-than-expected performance of value-added taxes, as the shift of products – mostly in food service – to lower rates also improved collection rates.

The VAT result last month was also aided by gross domestic product growth, while government officials also estimate there has been an improvement in the payment culture among citizens, mainly thanks to the program for the settlement of debts to the state in up to 120 tranches.

This improvement in revenues will allow for an additional 5-10 million euros to be channeled toward the heating oil subsidy, whose increase was also announced by Skylakakis on Monday.