SEV eyes investment measures
The Greek economy will require a 100-billion-euro increase in total investment up until 2022 to offset the losses it has suffered from the major divestment recorded in recent years, the head of the Hellenic Federation of Enterprises (SEV), Theodore Fessas, wrote in a letter to Deputy Prime Minister Yiannis Dragasakis, State Minister for Investment Nikos Pappas and the Finance Ministry.
The same letter includes a series of proposals aimed at improving the investment environment and boosting state revenues through fiscally neutral measures that will not harm enterprises or demand.
Calling for a drastic improvement on all fronts that affect business sentiment, Fessas noted that in the next few months SEV will increase its interventions aimed at creating a stable and attractive framework for attracting investment.
On the taxation level, SEV proposes changes to tax monitoring, particularly regarding any pending issues from previous years, as well as a review of certain special consumption taxes related to the production process itself. SEV specifically recommends the immediate application of the tax compliance certificate for companies that qualify, and the set-up of regional committees for the resolution of pending cases. These two measures alone are expected to benefit public coffers to the tune of 650-850 million euros per annum, while also reducing the burden on tax authorities and courts.
The industrialists further consider it necessary to adjust special consumption taxes on energy products of industrial use and to remove the special consumption tax on natural gas for electricity production.
Besides the lifting of tax-related counterincentives, SEV proposes the introduction of tax incentives: At the heart of its proposals for turning Greece into a significant investment destination are two ideas concerning the tax-related rewarding of productive expenditure that generates profits, and the encouragement of exemplary investments in sectors such as technology, infrastructures, manufacturing etc, with the introduction of a competitive rate tax that will remain unchanged for 10 years.
