“A competitive and fair tax system is vital to the efficient functioning of a country’s economy. It creates wealth by ensuring favorable conditions for businesses and investors. It allows funding for essential services such as health, education, infrastructure and public safety. And it creates trust in state institutions and the government,” emphasized the minister.
This system, he added, is based on two pillars: The tax policy decided by governments and its implementation for the collection of revenues. Regarding tax policy, Mr. Hatzidakis underlined that the main priority for the government was to deal with overtaxation “bequeathed” by the financial crisis without jeopardizing the fiscal balance. “We cut 50 taxes during our first term, another 10 in the first year after the 2023 election and we’re now cutting another 12“, he said. “Despite these reductions, State revenues have increased significantly, for two reasons: On the one hand, because lower taxes boost investment and growth, which in recent years has been higher than in the EU. And this led to an increase in incomes, consumption and State revenues. On the one hand, because together with AADE we implemented a comprehensive and ambitious reform aimed at improving tax compliance”.
This reform, as noted by the minister, includes 11 different measures to deal with tax evasion and tax avoidance, among them the interconnection of POS with cash registers, e-books, digital invoices as well as initiatives to simplify tax legislation such as the automatic completion of tax forms declarations, the digital communication of taxpayers with the tax authorities, the limitation of time for the completion of tax audits. He also underlined the incentives provided by the draft law under consultation for the timely submission of tax returns.
The minister also referred to AADE’s initiatives to adopt advanced digital tools to detect and combat tax evasion and fraud, especially in high-risk sectors. As well as the new online portal, which allows taxpayers to quickly access all digital applications and find the services they need.
“Many had come to the conclusion that the existence of a relatively large informal economy is an endemic problem that we have to accept and ‘live with'”concluded the minister. “This government has refused to accept that view. We have launched a battle against tax evasion and avoidance. And we’ve made significant progress, more than many analysts expected. We have been able to improve tax compliance and increase tax revenue while reducing the tax burden on law-abiding taxpayers. We are determined to continue on the same path, in order to leave behind the bad practices of the past and converge with the European average”.
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