Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, within the framework of the event organized by the Ministry of National Economy and the Independent Authority for Public Revenue (AADE) for the modernization of tax administration and citizen service, held a discussion with journalist Elena Laskari.
When asked about the political cost of the changes, he reminded that the reduction of tax evasion was a central pre-election commitment of the government. "I believe that the balance, both economic and political, is positive for society," he said and added that the additional revenues, which Greece managed to collect from combating tax evasion, are being returned to society, creating additional fiscal space for further tax reductions. “:The additional revenues came from combating tax evasion and from the increase in economic activity. This is the success of our tax policy. As long as these structural measures have a permanent character, we will have the opportunity, even after 2025, to plan for other permanent tax reductions and will focus our attention on further relieving the middle class. This policy returns the surplus from additional revenues back to society," he emphasized.
In response to a question about whether there will be larger tax cuts, Mitsotakis reminded that the budget already includes 12 tax cuts. He emphasized that all the interventions by the AADE are measures that, on the one hand, facilitate and, on the other hand, allow us to identify the actual taxable base. "Today, Greece is achieving fiscal targets, reducing debt, has three times the growth rate of the European average and is lowering taxes," he emphasized, adding that even the middle class, wage earners, have seen tax reductions.
"But we can be even more committed to their relief until 2027." We need to see the implementation of the measures in 2025. They are structural measures. We have also taken extraordinary measures. This government did not hesitate to tax the windfall profits of electricity producers and return the money to the citizens. The government did not hesitate to tax the refineries. These are emergency measures that we generally do not like. "We prefer structural measures."
In a subsequent question about VAT and whether there is a possibility of reducing the rates, Mitsotakis mentioned that "a one-unit reduction in VAT costs approximately 1.5 billion in revenue and that we are a country in several categories with lower VAT rates.