Reweighting taxable assets
The government is planning to reduce the taxed value of ‘tekmiria’ by an average of 30%
The National Economy and Finance Ministry has set up a committee to reform the system for the arbitrary determination of taxpayers’ incomes through counting their property assets – known in Greek as “tekmiria” – planning for their average reduction by 30% in taxable value terms, as the government’s pre-election program dictated.
The competent committee is progressing and in early 2024 it is expected to present to the ministry the changes that should be made to the existing system which is considered obsolete, while it will also recommend the interventions that will lead to the reduction of tekmiria.
For example, the readjustment of the taxable property rates (“objective values”) creates distortions in the calculation of tekmiria. Taxpayers therefore find themselves with greater wealth overnight and are taxed based on tekmiria. After the 2022 adjustment, in the areas where the zone prices increased above 2,800 euros per square meter, the living standards taken into account to determine the taxable income increased by 40%.
The main objective of the interventions that will be made is to eliminate the distortions and injustices that have been established during the multi-year implementation of the regulations for the objective cost of living. The government will proceed with a new tax reform aimed at the fairer distribution of tax burdens among households by changing the presumptive way of determining taxable income.
As Deputy Minister Harry Theoharis tells Kathimerini, “the pre-election program of New Democracy included specific commitments such as for example the issue of dealing with tax evasion – an issue that became the law of the state – the gradual abolition of the professional fee that was passed with the same bill, but also the review of the tekmiria in order to proceed with the rationalization and ultimately their reduction by 30%.”
He adds that “the relevant working group has already started working on it and we are waiting for its proposal after a reasonable amount of time.”
