By Chrysostomos Tsoufis

The amount of €2.65 billion was given this year in addition to tax exemptions, compared to 2022 as shown by the data of the analysis of the draft budget submitted to the Parliament. The 1064 tax exemptions of 2023 (17 more than last year) cost the public coffers more than €15.55 billion from €12.9 billion in 2022. And all this without the justification of the double crisis – health and energy – which had catapulted tax exemptions from €8.9 billion € of 2021.

In 2016, the tax exemptions were 716 and totaled a little over €3 billion, in a period of 7 years, they have more than quintupled.

The lion’s share of the tax exemptions are natural persons who enjoy 239 different exemptions at a cost of approximately €5.4 billion, up from €5 billion last year.
€3.87 billion concern the tax-free limit.
€1.2 billion include extraordinary fees/compensations/grants/financial aids granted to both practitioners and non-practitioners of business/agricultural activity, in the context of dealing with extraordinary events (such as indicatively the risk of the spread of COVID-19)
The special taxation of sailors “costs” the public coffers €97 million.

206, from 200 last year, different tax exemptions were enjoyed by businesses this year. To be precise, a little more than 48,000 were relieved by €1.85 billion.
€592m relate to income from dividends or profits from participation in legal entities and €409m from capital gains from the transfer of securities.
€260 million concerns the non-refundable advance payment to companies affected by the pandemic.
€38m relate to the cancellation of debts in the context of an out-of-court settlement arrangement or the execution of court decisions.

In addition, approximately 10,000 businesses are exempted from the EFA (special real estate tax) with the cost to the state coffers exceeding €5.5 billion

The third most populous category has to do with VAT with 75 tax exemptions. The benefit for businesses, professionals and consumers was €939m. The biggest tax exemptions are for private education services, which save €455.5 million, and financial services with €254 million.

€1.04 billion is the shortfall in public revenue caused by the exemptions to the EFFK. Energy products with €511 million and alcohol with €533 million stand out.

The tax exemptions concerning insurance premiums cost €456 million

Exemptions to the classification fee cost €165m. Exemption from the registration fee, partial or total, is granted to hospitals, large families, taxpayers with three children, foreign diplomatic services and owners of hybrid-electric cars.

It is no coincidence that the central banker Yiannis Stournaras openly asked for a re-evaluation of the tax exemptions on the basis of whether they really support the weakest. According to the governor of the Bank of Greece, significant resources could be freed that could be redirected to public investments as well as “reserves” to deal with extraordinary events due to geopolitical factors or the climate crisis.

How much more so when the tax evasion based on the calculations of the Chamber of Commerce amounts to €40 billion.