Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras ruled out the implementation of an already pre-legislated austerity measure, namely, the lowering of the annual tax-free income threshold, which is set to come on line on Jan. 1, 2020.
Although his government brought the measure to Parliament in 2017, as part of a post-third bailout package of tax hikes and social security cuts, on Monday he responded to a press question by saying "there's no issue of a reduction in the tax-free threshold".
During a live television appearance on the prime-time newscast of the Ant1 station, Tsipras added: "As long as SYRIZA is in power the tax-free threshold will not be reduced ..."
General elections in the country must be held by October at the latest, with Tsipras' hard left SYRIZA party still badly trailing the main opposition in the opinion polls.
