By T. Tsiros
The first serious "litmus test" that the 2017 budget is being successfully executed comes within the next few days, as a deadline for paying the first installment of income taxes for fiscal 2016 - for taxpayers' and enterprises' whose statements shows are in the "red" - comes at the end of July.
The budgeted figure from the first income and corporate tax installment this year is 1.5 billion euros.
Execution of the budget during the first half of 2017, as far as revenues are concerned, was more-or-less on target, with the year's fiscal targets now dependent on the revenue performance for the second half of 2017, when businesses and taxpayers will face the full force of a "tax tsunami" decided in 2016 by the current coalition government.
The biggest boost to the state's coffers in the first six months of 2017 came from a framework allowing installment payments for taxpayers' past arrears to the state, along with more than 200 million euros from a law legalizing undisclosed income. The latter piece of legislation has so far benefited numerous businesses owners who had been charged with issuing fake invoices, given that prior to the law they faced extremely high fines imposed by the tax bureau.
