In Greece, if someone works hard to earn 100,000 euros a year, the state is a partner in his work. He will pay around 35,000 euros in tax, as the graduation rate rises to 40%. However, if a person inherits shares from his father that give him an annual income of 100,000 euros, he can “get help”, since he puts only 5,000 euros into the pockets of the state. The single tax rate (flat tax) on capital returns is 5%.
We don’t know how many people live off dividends; The “public data” of the Greek state does not allow this kind of analysis. Nor do we know how many people live (or, like SYRIZA MEP Mr. Demitris Papadimoulis, can live) from the rentals. However, if someone is not working and living off the income from their estate (let’s say they have an income of €100,000), they would be paid about 20,000 less than an employee; 17% is the flat tax on income from real estate.
We shouldn’t be talking about interest income on deposits because banks tend to set interest rates to zero, but there it is, come and see. Income from deposits is taxed independently at 15% (10 percentage points more than the other form of capital which is equity), but is then added to the taxpayer’s income, which is subject to a special solidarity tax provided it exceeds €12,000.
An incredible mill that no government, left or right, archaic or modern, wants to dismantle. Our tax system is organized on the basis of the saying “merodouli, merofai, statistica”. All governments want is to get through the year without anyone coming to them everywhere from Brussels to deviate from what has been agreed upon, and to serve the different social groups; Weak or not, preferably the latter, because they have political leverage to enforce policies.
Therefore, Mr. Yannis Dragasakis was absolutely right when he praised the very low rate of 5% in profit tax, even if the government was complaining about the tax burden that SYRIZA had prepared. The latter places her small and medium pair, the mill, with patrons.
In recent years, many have compared Greece with Bulgaria, no matter how dishonorable it may be. They say about the neighbors’ low tax rate. This is correct. Except there is a real 10% flat tax rate: 10% on corporate profits, 10% on dividends, 10% on employment.
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