The week’s high-profile announcement that the imposition of a supplementary property tax on farmland, pastures and land outside of town planning zones will be suspended for 2016 doesn't carry over for subsequent years.
The relevant minister this week said the unpopular tax, known as ENFIA in its Greek-language acronym, won’t be leveled on rural property held by private individuals. Nevertheless, the tabled amendment only applies to this year, sparking criticism that the leftist government merely attempted to salvage “political capital” in the current difficult juncture.
Abolition of the property tax was a central campaign promise by the SYRIZA party when in the opposition. Once in government, it retained the measure in order to meet memorandum-mandated fiscal targets through 2018. The leftist Tsipras government signed a third memorandum in August 2015.
According to a report by the General Accounting Office, losses from not imposing the property tax on rural and beyond town planning properties will mean a loss of 230 million euros on an annual basis.
Off-set revenue measures, however, was judged as unnecessary, given that the sum would have been a surplus to the 2.65 billion euros that the ENFIA tax is foreseen as yielding this year – with most of the burden falling on owners of property in urban areas, which in Greece means owners of single-family dwellings.
