A group of 41 New Democracy MPs have requested from the Minister of Finances to reduce the special consumption tax on heating oil, citing the inefficiency of the government measure and the humanitarian problems affecting thousands of households caused by the lack of heating.
As explained in their letter addressed to Minister Yannis Stournaras, IOVE’s report shows that the increase of the tax resulted in an 80% drop in consumption. A 30% reduction of the special consumption tax on heating oil would encourage consumption and increase revenue. Additionally, the MPs mention that the high cost of heating oil has forced people to turn to wood burners for heating, which in turn has caused an atmospheric pollution affecting public health.
The initiative of New Democracy MPs also reflects the Deputy Minister of Finances Christos Staikouras, who expressed the opinion that a reduction of the tax will increase consumption and provide cheaper heating for struggling households. The Deputy Minister claimed in an interview to the Sunday edition of To Vima that the government intends to negotiate a tax reduction with the troika.
The 41 MPs are Evripidis Stylianidis, Andreas Marinos, Fevronia Patrianakou, Evangelos Basiakos, Anna Karamanli, Manos Konsolas, Ilias Vlachogiannis, Nikos Tagaras, Alexandros Kontos, Giorgos Konstantopoulos, Spyros Taliadouros, Lefteris Afgenakis, Andreas Koutsoumpas, Alexandros Dermentzopoulos, Maria Antoniou, Dimitris Kyriazidis, Timoleon Kopsachilis, Efstathios Konstantinidis, Manousos Voloudakis, Konstantinos Koukodimos, Lazaros Tsavdaridis, Dimitris Sampaziotis, Iordanis Tzamtzis, Giorgos Kontogiannis, Konstantinos Kontogeorgos, Giorgos Karasmanis, Yannis Plakiotakis, Dimitris Christogiannis, Giorgos Stylios, Maximos Senetakis, Savvas Anastasiadis, Konstantinos Klitsiotis, Michalis Tamilos, Theofilos Leontaridis, Christos Kellas, Kostas Skrekas, Kostas Katsafados, Giorgos Orfanos, Yannis Kefalogiannis, Christos Dimas and Nikos Panagiotopoulos.
