22.1.13
In an answer to New Democracy MP Andreas Psycharis, the Deputy Minister of Finances Christos Staikouras admitted that the government is not considering reducing the price of heating oil.
Despite the growing number of voices within the tripartite government arguing for a reduction in the special consumption tax, Mr. Staikouras stressed that “every measure must be judged in terms of justice and efficiency”. So despite the consumption of oil being down by 70%, revenue increased by 65%; in December 2012 alone the increase of revenue (compared to December 2011) was 155%. The measure has meant that the government collected 1.266 billion euros from an estimated 1.340 billion euros. Regarding vulnerable social groups, Mr. Staikouras revealed that only 6.4 of the allocated 80 million euros benefit package have been used.
Mr. Psycharis responded that revenue would be higher if the tax was less and that despite the Minister of Finances claiming in a CNN interview to “learn from the errors of his predecessors”, Mr. Stournaras “has learned nothing from overtaxation”.
