Some six million taxpayers in Greece are obliged to pay roughly four billion euros into the state coffers by Dec. 30 as several tax deadlines expire on the last working day of the year.
By Friday, the fifth installment of the property tax, the road tax and business tax and VAT have to be paid.
Taxpayers are bracing for more belt-tightening in the new year with a new set of taxes worth 2.6 billion euros unveiled in the government’s budget plan for 2017, while the economy is seen rebounding after the steepest slump since World War II. The EU’s forecast of 2.7% growth is considered by many analysts as over optimistic given the impending squeeze on incomes that will further curtail domestic demand.
The new year will see increases in fuel duties, by three cents per litre on unleaded, eight cents per litre on diesel, and by 10 per litre on LP gas.
Duties on tobacco products will also commence in 2017, with bulk tobacco rate raised to 26 percent from 20 percent, in terms of retail prices. For a pack of cigarettes, the hike means an increase of 50 cents to one euro. Electronic cigarettes also came under the taxman’s “radar”, with a new 10 cent duty slapped on each milliliter of fluid.
Coffee, will also become more expensive, with hikes of between 10 and 20 percent tacked on to retail prices.
Finally, a hike of 5 percent will be slapped on broadband and landline telephone bills
