The Greek government is reportedly abandoning an idea to find more revenue via a tax slapped on columns of lottery games offered by the biggest betting pools operator (OPAP S.A.) in the country, with the idea now shifting to a tax on all forms of gambling.
The Greek government is reportedly abandoning an idea to find more revenue via a tax slapped on columns of lottery games offered by the biggest betting pools operator (OPAP S.A.) in the country, with the idea now shifting to a tax on all forms of gambling.
The report comes amid continued proposals and counter-proposals by the government’s economic team on covering fiscal gaps in the 2016-18 state budgets, a foremost obligation towards institutional creditors.
The same sources said a reduction in annual defense spending will be around 100 million euros, instead of the hefty 500 million originally provisioned in the 2016 budget.
The leftist government must bridge an expected deficit of 1.8 million euros for the 2017-2018 period.
At present, reports state, all revenue-generating proposals are “on the table”, particularly indirect taxes. Meanwhile, updated figures this week by the state statistics service are expected to finalized the numbers for the 2015 budget’s course, particularly the level of the primary surplus in the general government figures for 2015.
Specifically, if 2015 figures reveal a primary budget surplus of 0.2 percent of GDP, which the government expects, instead of a 0.25-percent deficit, as foreseen by the current fiscal adjustment program, then Athens will press for less austerity measures. Such a development could mean that 300 million euros in potential tax hikes – or spending cuts – could be avoided.