“We are implementing our pre-election commitment to abolish the pretense fee – indeed we are doing it earlier gradually from 2024 – while simultaneously increasing tax compliance, as we have repeatedly defined as a prerequisite,” State Minister Akis Skertsos said in an interview.

Speaking to “Avgi tis Kyriaki”, Mr. Skertsos clarified, “there is no targeting of this specific professional category, nor should it be done. Self-employed people are not habitual tax evaders. The rules of the game are always set by the state and citizens adapt to them. If we have left tax evasion holes, it is the responsibility of the state that we have allowed it to happen over time, it is the responsibility of the state to fix it.”

According to Mr. Schertsos, “the European identity, invoked by some and by the opposition, is not chosen a la carte. The system we propose is not an innovation. This is how freelancers are taxed in other European countries, such as in France and Italy. The opposition parties complain about tax evasion, but they do not introduce any realistic alternative proposal to deal with it.”

“Practically, we are closing holes in the tax system without increasing taxes but imposing a fairer share of the tax burden based on the real incomes of each citizen. With exceptions to avoid injustices, such as the exclusion of young entrepreneurs, the disabled or residents of small communities, while there is always the possibility of questioning the reasonable remuneration as the presumed income is contestable”, he added.

“We are open to informed proposals to improve the arrangements but their basic philosophy is not going to change. It is a question of tax justice and it is questionable how the opposition reconciles with a socially unjust reality that records approximately 500,000 of our fellow citizens, who choose the free profession and declare a lower annual income than that of their minimum wage employees”, noted the Minister of State.

Asked, moreover, to comment on the criticism that the new tax bill targets small and medium-sized businesses, he emphasized: “Another misunderstanding – intentional or not – on the part of the opposition. Small and medium-sized businesses have benefited from this government’s policies, from the reduction in social security contributions and income tax, the incentives and support we provide for their digital and green transformation to be more productive, resilient and outward-looking. If this did not happen, you can be sure that their disapproval would have been registered at the polls.”

“We need a national agreement and alliance to limit tax evasion. We must not forget the particularities of the country: The high public debt which – despite the pan-European record recorded in its rate of reduction – must continue to fall by applying a policy of fiscal responsibility. We have high defense spending because of our geographic location and challenges at our borders, high pension spending because of our national demographics with an aging population. Only in this way will we be able to increase spending on public health and public education”, Mr. Skertsos pointed out.

He threw down the gauntlet to the opposition, arguing that “in the face of all these major national challenges, he only tells us which taxes he will cut, he forgets to tell us which taxes he will increase so that we do not return to fiscal deficits and debts. As for the position of the new leader of SYRIZA for the horizontal exemption of freelancers from incomes up to 10,000 euros, it shows how much distance now separates SYRIZA from its supposed statutory principles, such as tax justice.”

On the accuracy front, he was the first to recognize “how difficult the daily life of citizens is because of the – mainly – imported accuracy. That is why we are constantly adding measures to our quiver to support Greek households and primarily the most vulnerable. I am reminded of the “Household Basket”, the “Market pass” – which were so badly damaged by the opposition – and now the “Permanent Reduction of at least 5% of Prices” which is applied to almost 650 products”.

But, “obviously they don’t solve the problem but it is a significant relief for the family budget. Increases are also dealt with by checks and fines. We have no problem going up against corporate giants. We did recently. No game for profit on the backs of consumers, is our message,” he underlined.

When asked how the government responds to the accusations of “direct award parties”, the Minister of State stated: “According to the Central Electronic Register of Public Contracts, from 2020 to 2022 18.5 billion were awarded through open tenders and 6.7 billion . with direct assignments which were mainly related to the pandemic, i.e. they were made under unprecedented conditions of large shortages and acute competition in the international markets to cover the emergency needs for masks, ICU equipment, vaccines, self-tests, etc. The procurements were made under full legality and with the approval of the Court of Auditors”.

“We have recognized that over time there is indeed a bad practice with direct public procurement”, he noted and reminded that “during SYRIZA, in the two years 2018-2019, out of a total of 10 billion direct procurements, only 2.1 were given through open tenders, in 80 % that is, they were direct assignments in a period without global crises. In any case, we are committed to establishing a new framework for procurement and public procurement.”

Finally, regarding the case of phone surveillance, he repeated “something that has been said publicly many times by the more official lips of the Prime Minister: Whatever we had to do politically and parliamentaryly, we did it. This really very serious case is in the hands of justice, indeed at the highest level that will judge it. Discussion with leaks does not honor anyone.”