Chrysostomos Tsoufis

– Permanent abolition of the payment of the special solidarity contribution to civil servants, pensioners and the private sector

Annual cost 1.24 billion euro

– Maintaining on a permanent basis the reduction by three percentage points of the insurance contributions of private sector employees.

Annual cost 871 million euro.

– Reform of the special salary of the National Health Service doctors and salary interventions to support the Armed Forces executives

Cost 103 million euro.

– Extension of maternity allowance in the private sector from 6 to 9 months.

Annual cost 64 million euro.

They are only 4 of the permanent measures to boost workers’ incomes that the government took for 2023 and are included in the budget, totaling approximately €2.3 billion.

What impact did these measures have?

According to Eurostat’s announcement of 2023 incomes, the earnings of workers in Greece increased by 3.7% to €17,013 per year.

However, the gap with the rest of Europe opened as wages in old Epirus increased by an average of 6.5% to €37,683.

Despite the measures taken we are not even at 50% of the average (we are at 45.1% to be precise) as others seem to be going faster. In fact, we are third from the end in the ranking, ahead only of Hungarians and Bulgarians:

Greece: €17,000
Hungary: €16,900
Bulgaria: €13,500

On the contrary, the first three are:

Luxembourg: €81,100
Denmark: €67,600
Ireland: €58,700

These amounts are adjusted so that part-time wages are also expressed in full-time equivalents.

It is no coincidence, after all this, that there has recently been an increase in the reports of government officials – most prominently the Prime Minister and most recently that of Kostis Hatzidakis – that in the coming three years emphasis must be placed on the reduction of direct taxation with interventions in the tax scale, the presumptions and the insurance contributions – among other things – to be considered almost certain.

For 2025, the tax bill posted for public consultation provides for additional permanent reductions in income-enhancing tax burdens:

Reduction by an additional 1 unit of insurance contributions.

Abolition of the pretense fee for all natural persons (freelancers, self-employed as well as workers who are paid with a “block”).

Exemption from insurance premium tax (15%) on health policies for children up to 18 years of age. In the case of a family or group contract, the tax is reduced in proportion to the number of minor members it covers.

Removal of fixed telephony fee (5%) for optical fiber connections (≥100 Mbps).

Taxation of remuneration for on-call doctors at a rate of 22%. The average monthly net benefit for doctors is estimated at €150

Certain tax exemptions are also provided for:

Income tax exemption for 3 years for properties up to 120 sq.m. which will be let between 8 September 2024 and 31 December 2025 on leases of at least three years and which were previously declared vacant or available for short-term letting.

Double reduction of ENFIA to 20% for residences of natural persons, with a taxable value of up to €500,000, which are insured for natural disasters (fire, earthquake, flood).

Tax exemption of voluntary business benefits for new parents (for an allowance of up to €5,000 for each child increased by €5,000 for each additional child and for a benefit of up to €5,000 per year to cover the cost of nurseries and kindergartens).