While the Samaras-Venizelos coalition government was pleased that its primary residence auction bill passed through in Parliament on Saturday, the slim parliamentary majority of merely 152 votes in favor of such a critical bill has caused some concern.
The bill, which among others regulates the conditions and procedures for the auction of primary residences, went through with 152 MPs voting in favor and 141 against; absent from the vote were the recently-expelled Byron Polydoras, PASOK’s Apostolos Kaklamanis, ANEL’s Panos Haikalis, independent MP Nikos Nikolopoulos and the three detained Golden Dawn MPs.
When the discussions regarding the bill began on Friday, many MPs were in uproar as the government decided to include a number of irrelevant articles in the bill. The Ministers of Finances and Growth withdrew some of these articles and made some last-minute amendments to the provisions for the imposition of fines for outstanding debt towards the State.
The Minister of Finances defended the provision claiming that it is in line with the current Tax Procedure Code and “nothing new”. According to the provision, a 10% fine is imposed for debts that are 2 months late, which can extend to 30% after two years. Mr. Stournaras further noted that the bill offers protection to taxpayers who have worked out a settlement.
