By Chrysostomos Tsoufis

With the housing problem on the rise, the Ministry of Finance listens with particular interest to her proposal Panhellenic Federation of Property Owners for a three-year tax exemption from income tax for those who rent out their properties as a main residence, for at least three years. Condition that these residences were CLOSED throughout 2023 or made available for short-term rental.

The proposal is known to the government and the prime minister, it has not been rejected as in Nikis they want to study the fiscal footprint it will have on the state budget as well as the results on the real estate market.

According to P.OM.ID.A the closed, unused, buildings throughout Greece are tens of thousands. Making them available on the market will directly help to address the housing problem for which the government is obliged to take measures anyway and some of them are already being implemented. They recall a similar proposal that was accepted by the government PASOK in 1999 which contributed significantly to the treatment of earthquake victims from the Parnitha earthquake.

More homes also available, means lower rents.

Some of these houses will possibly need “restoration”, so the work that will be required will further stimulate the market and therefore the revenue of the state.

The owners’ association does not see any financial risk since these houses are unoccupied anyway.

And while the foreclosed homes will take some time to be available on the market, the situation with those available in 2023 for short-term rental is much simpler. They are already in good condition and all their owners need to do is to cancel the AMA (Property Registry Number) and rent the property as a main residence for at least 3 years.

This proposal is part of the broader context of demanding a reduction in property owners’ taxation, with their federation also requesting a reform of the tax scale, a request that is currently not being considered, although even officials of the Ministry of Finance admit that the way the tax scale is structured, it favors tax evasion.

Under the current system, the first €12,000 of income is taxed at a rate of 15%.

From €12,001 to €35,000 the rate jumps to 35% and excess income has a rate of 45%.

A taxpayer with an income of €12,000 will pay a tax of €1,800.

At €15,000 income the tax jumps to €2,850

In this big gap between the first and the second echelon they see in the ministry that tax evasion can….flourish.

The desire of the property owners according to information is to reduce the rates by 50%. Let’s go to a system with a rate of 7.5% for the first €12,000, 17.5% for the part from €12,001 to €35,000 and 22.5% for the excess.

Of course, they would not say no to a horizontal reduction of rates by 10 points as a model with rates of 5% – 25% – 35% leads to the first bracket in which most taxpayers are concentrated in even more relief.