By Chrysostomos Tsoufis

Increase tax revenue, GDP growth, increase in employment, decrease in smuggling. These are just some of the beneficial effects that a gradual reduction of the VAT on alcoholic beverages from €2,550 per 100 liters of ethyl alcohol to €1,800 over a three-year period (2024-2026) would have, which are presented in a special report by the Foundation for Finance and of Industrial Research.

Such a reduction in EFC it would add €325 million to GDP over the three years under review and increase employment by 11,300.

Tax revenues are expected to increase by €8m, since the losses of €93m from the reduction of the EFFK will be compensated according to IOBE calculations by the €59m increase in VAT revenue (due to the increase in sales), the additional €11m from the corporate profit tax and the additional €31m from the personal income tax due to the increase in employment. Without the reduction, sales will increase by 2026 from 5.3 million to 6.1 million. With the reduction, sales will reach €6.7 million

The reduction in VAT is expected to reduce the retail price of a typical bottle by around 11%.

In whiskey the reduction is expected to be 11.4%, 12.1% in vodka, 11.5% and 10.6% in ouzo.

The figures show that the prices of alcoholic beverages are at Hellas the third highest behind only Finland and Ireland.

It is also estimated that the integration of consumption in legal streets at all stages of consumption, including tourism and catering, is expected to increase by approximately 4%. It is estimated that public coffers lose €71.5m in revenue due to alcohol smuggling, with Greece in second place with the biggest sales losses behind Lithuania.

At the same time, the tax framework will be rationalized and our country will be closer to the European average and especially to our directly competitive tourist countries such as Portugal and Italy.

It is characteristic that in the period 2009-2022 the tax on alcoholics in Greece increased by 95%, which is the largest in the Eurozone.

The reduction in taxation is also in itself an incentive for investment in a sector in which around 350 companies are active, which means an increase in production and a strengthening of their sustainability.