OPINION

No more new taxes

No country or society can survive without hope. Here in Greece, the people have been fighting for survival for the past few years and living very frugally because they understand the problems and difficulties. But, there is a line beyond which they cannot withstand any more cutbacks and new taxes. A large portion of society has already crossed this line and is now in dire need of at least an indication that the additional taxes we are paying now will be the last extraordinary measures.

The government is currently on an important cusp. On the one hand, it has the extremely difficult task of executing a budget that foresees revenues from additional taxes on property. On the other hand, though, it has proved incapable so far of cracking down on traditional types of tax evasion at the same time as poverty and financial strife are giving rise to new ways to avoid paying taxes and new ways of smuggling goods into the country.

The excessive taxation of real estate assets will have a huge impact on a large part of the population, and especially on citizens who try to be correct in their commitments, those who represent the real backbone of this country and its economy.

Another parameter is that on a daily basis, citizens face indifference or even outright rudeness from tax officials, hospital workers and other civil servants taking their own grievances out on their work. People see that even though they are asked to pay more taxes, the services they receive get worse rather than better.

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