Millions of taxpayers in Greece will face payment of up to six different taxes over the next 4.5 months, as the beleaguered leftist-rightist government must meet or exceed a 1.75-percent primary budget surplus target, as a percentage of annual GDP, as per memorandum obligations.
In terms of euros and cents, the figure the state must collect until the end of the year is 8.3 billion euros, a sum to be derived from income tax installments - based on returns for fiscal 2016 - property taxes and road fees imposed on vehicle owners.
Taxpayers' response to their increased obligations - the result of 2016's "tax tsunami" imposed by the Tsipras government - will determine whether the Greek state meets its fiscal target, thereby avoiding activation of a dreaded automatic spending cuts mechanism, dubbed the "cutter" by the opposition and media.
Conversely, the Greek government has promised that if the fiscal target is surpassed, then the development will translate into a "social dividend", essentially more spending on what leftist SYRIZA identifies as marginalized groups of society.
Direct taxes now levied in recession-battered Greece are the traditional income tax, a special "solidarity tax", an annual surcharge imposed on self-employed professionals, a "luxury levy" on high-income brackets for 2016, the unpopular ENFIA property tax and, lastly, the 2018 road fees for vehicle owners.
