The Minister of State, Kostis Hatzidakis, announced in the Parliament the abolition of the pretense fee for workers with pads.

In particular, the minister speaking to the Economic Affairs Committee of the Parliament about the draft of the state budgetannounced the horizontal abolition of the pretense fee from 2025 for “blocks” as well.

It is estimated that approx 25,000 taxpayers they will be exempt in 2025, from the pretension fee which ranges from 400 to 500 euros.

“The scrapping of the pretense fee will also include workers with pads and you will see it written so there is no doubt,” emphasized the minister of Finance, clarifying in this way that the exemption from the burden will also directly concern blocks (with up to 3 employers) and will not apply from 2027.

The successes of the Greek economy

Also, Mr. Hatzidakis presented ten European firsts of the Greek economy while at the same time he gave answers with official data to the criticism of opposition officials on taxation, inflation and social policy.

“I do not underestimate the difficulties faced by households, especially from the global inflationary shock, or the deviation of incomes from the European average”, emphasized the minister. “We didn’t claim to have a magical way to solve problems. We promised specific things and we will do them. We must be judged by our campaign promises and also remember our starting point. But at the same time, it would be unfair, not only for ourselves, but for the Greek citizens, the efforts and sacrifices of the last years, to let present an image of zeroing or leveling that is far from reality, the assessments of international organizations and of the media that have not conspired in favor of Greece and the government, but record a reality for all countries”.

Mr. Hatzidakis commented on the following, presenting official figures from Eurostat for the period 2019-2023:

  1. Employment-unemployment: Greece achieved the largest reduction in the unemployment rate of any other EU country, by around 7 percentage points. “Half a million Greeks have found work and there will be further positive developments in 2025,” he said.
  2. Development: The growth rate of the Greek economy was multiple times the EU average despite the largest reduction in GDP recorded in 2020 – as in the other countries with a significant share of tourism in GDP – due to the pandemic.
  3. Investments: Greece is a champion in the cumulative increase in investment throughout the EU, “much to the chagrin of those who question everything”, a direction to which denationalisations also contribute.
  4. Exports: The country achieved the largest percentage increase in market share in global trade, with Poland second.
  5. Competition: Between 2018-2023 according to OECD measurements the greatest increase in the level of competition in the goods market was achieved.
  6. Industrial production: “Despite speculations to the contrary, we have a very significant strengthening of the industrial production index. The Greek production model is gradually changing, its composition is changing in favor of investments and exports and the presence of industry is becoming stronger”, underlined Mr. Hatzidakis.
  7. Debt: Greece recorded the largest reduction in the debt-to-GDP ratio. “Only in the period 2020-2023 we had a de-escalation by 45 percentage points. We are not complacent because the debt remains high, but every year with the prudent policy we implement, we seek to limit the debt. Because the high debt is not a pro-people but an anti-people policy”, noted the minister.
  8. Borrowing rates: The de-escalation of the debt also led to the biggest reduction in the spread against the ten-year German bond. “In the last few days, even for the 5-year bonds, Greece borrows cheaper – beyond Italy and France. And this is a great success of the Greek people. The progress is national and we should not underestimate it,” he said.
  9. Prices: As of 2019, before the international burst of inflation, Greece had the lowest consumer price increase in the EU.
  10. Incomes: “Over the last five years, after removing the impact of inflation, official figures show a net cumulative increase in GDP per capita of 7.7% in Greece compared to 3.2% in the EU. Obviously we would like the increase and inflation to be higher lower. But the facts are not in dispute” pointed out Mr. Hatzidakis.

Responding in particular to the criticism leveled by opposition MPs, Mr. Hatzidakis stated the following:

– For taxation: “You say there is over-taxation that is stifling the economy. The evidence suggests otherwise. The government – ​​if you exclude the climate crisis levy and the cruise tax – has only made tax cuts. You make a conscious confusion between the increase in taxes, which does not exist, and the increase in revenue, which actually exists because we have growth, therefore a bigger pie and we also have to deal with tax evasion”, noted the minister.

According to the data he presented:

• In the 6th month of 2024, with inflation of 3%, VAT revenues increased by 10.3%. 7.3% of the increase is therefore due to the development and the treatment of tax evasion e.g. by connecting the cash registers to the POS.
•In total, in 2024, an excess of the budget revenues from taxes is expected by 5.2%. 60% of the revenue increase is due to the increase in corporate income tax collection and 26% to the increase in fees.
• In 2025, a 3.7% revenue increase is estimated primarily due to the growth of the economy and without any tax increase but only with reductions. With the main example being the reduction of insurance contributions which increases the money that employees put in their pockets.

-For inflation: “Indeed in the last three years it is probably the biggest problem worldwide. But it seems that the problem is on the decline. The government continues to intervene with controls, fines for profiteering, wage and pension increases, tax reductions that attempt to ease the burden on households,” the minister pointed out. While specifically on the issue of VAT and the policy followed by Spain, he reiterated on the one hand that inflation there was higher than in our country and on the other hand that the Spanish government proceeded to partially abolish the measure, raising the low rates again.

-For social costs: According to the data presented by Mr. Hatzidakis for the period 2019-2023, “from this indifferent and allegedly anti-popular government” spending on education increased by 15%, on insurance funds by 16%, on health by 46.5 % and for hospitals 97.9 %.

“We are moving forward with a mix of policies that are rewarded in practice and we do not accept leveling criticism because the country is rising”, concluded Mr. Hatzidakis. “This is evidenced by the data on the evolution of the sizes, the international organizations that formulate forecasts that are sometimes more optimistic than ours, the rating agencies that all without exception upgrade Greece and the citizens themselves who have their complaints but overall are more oriented towards the New Democracy. With seriousness, modesty and self-confidence, we will continue combining fiscal stability with pro-development policy and social justice in order to do our patriotic duty and take Greece several steps higher.”