By Penelope Galliou

The correlations shown by the May 21 ballot with the electoral collapse of SYRIZA and the percentage strengthening of PASOK seem to have changed the pre-election agenda of the confrontation for both ND and PASOK.

Before the new election campaign even started, Kyriakos Mitsotakis showed early on that he clearly places Nikos Androulakis in the cadre of his political opponents, leaving Alexis Tsipras in the “second tier” for the time being.

The same main “opponent” seems to be chosen by Nikos Androulakis, putting in the background the equal distances and the two-front that he followed throughout the previous period, attacking both SYRIZA and the ND government, and now brings to the fore the Piraeus.

The common denominator in the choice of the two leaders and the two strategies is the area of ​​the so-called center and its voters, with the ND clearly winning in the elections the area of ​​the center and the center-right, but also PASOK greatly increasing its percentages in space of the center and center-left, certifying that in the specific spectrum of political positioning, it seems to be rebounding with upward dynamics.

The occasion for the new conflict to unfold in the pre-election scene was the “sardam” as she and the executives of Harilaou Trikoupi, PASOK’s parliamentary candidate Eleni Chronopoulou called it, who during her televised interview with ERT stated that some taxes will increase, while some others will decrease, and specifying the taxes that will be increased, he replied that “we will increase the taxes that we see that actually hurt the middle class”.

A wording that may have seemed to be a mistake, but the follow-up by both herself and the other PASOK candidate Panagiotis Doudonis to SKAI regarding the increase in dividend taxation from 5% to 15% for profits over 100 thousand euros, flared up the political confrontation.

ND representative Akis Skertsos hastened to show the “hidden” plans of Harilaou Trikoupis, speaking of the two new “martyrs of PASOK” and noted “Unfortunately, the opposition parties, both SYRIZA and PASOK, do not seem to have taken this the message of the ballot box and continue to provoke with the ambiguity of the programs and statements of their executives.

PASOK had a row yesterday and today, which with consecutive television appearances by two of its leading executives and candidates for the State ballot, Mr. Doudonis and Ms. Chronopoulos, revealed without specifying its nebulous and dangerous tax plans.

The two new “witnesses” – of PASOK this time – revealed three measures to us:

1) the increase in the tax on corporate dividends

2) the extraordinary taxation of large businesses and

3) the reinstatement of taxation on parental benefits.

In response, PASOK’s press representative Dimitris Manzos went on the counterattack, saying that PASOK’s tax policy has a clear objective: “The fair distribution of tax burdens, which will finance a modern and efficient welfare state, which will reduce social and economic inequalities . That is why we propose reducing the tax burden on wage labor, increasing tax relief for families with children and reducing indirect taxes on basic consumer goods and energy, while accuracy lasts.”

Mr. Manzos referred to PASOK’s program goals, stressing that “we propose to reduce the unacceptably high tax-free limit for parental benefits from the 4.8 million euros, which currently applies at the maximum price, to 400,000 for each parent.

Regarding distributed dividends from corporate profits, which are currently taxed horizontally at the lowest rate in Europe of 5%, we propose a graduated progressive taxation as follows:

  • For the first 50,000 euros of the distributed dividend, the tax rate remains at 5%
  • The excess part above 50,000 and up to 100,000 is taxed – AND ONLY THIS – at a rate of 10%
  • and if the dividends exceed 100,000 euros, the additional part is again taxed at 15%.

Because it is completely unfair that dividends of 30,000, 40,000 and 50,000 euros are taxed in the same way as the mammoth dividends of millions” he concluded.

The question is to what extent the new confrontation will remain on the essence and not be spent in aristologies.

The publicized programs of the parties can contribute to the relevant dialogue and any objections and questions can be answered as long as the pending proposal of Kyriakos Mitsotakis can be implemented, the General Accounting Office of the State or the Budget Office of the Parliament, to cost the party programs.​​