VAT on private schools put off until after elections

Private schools and cramming colleges will have at least until October 16 before they have to charge 23 percent VAT on their services, following a freeze on the measure, which was agreed between the previous government and Greece’s international creditors as part of a third bailout package.

Speaking on Skai TV on Wednesday, Deputy Finance Minister Tryfon Alexiadis announced the decision to postpone the implementation of the measure until after the elections, with the agreement of several political parties.

“We can only tax as much as we can collect,” Alexiadis said of the controversial measure, which threatens to shut down dozens of private institutions and put further pressure on the country’s beleaguered public school system.

Alexiadis’s announcement came a day after SYRIZA, which signed the measure while in government in July, said that it would abolish it if it were re-elected on September 20.