With the farmer unions appearing determined to continue their struggle, the Prime Minister Antonis Samaras held a meeting on Thursday afternoon with the Minister of Agricultural Development Athanasios Tsaftaris, the Deputy Minister of Finances Giorgos Mavraganis and the General Secretary of Public Revenue Haris Theoharis to reexamine the taxation of farmers.
After the meeting concluded, it was decided that farmers will only be obliged to keep books for income above 15,000 and even then, they will only have to include cumulative invoices. Additionally they will be excluded from a trade tax for five years (including farmers 3 years before retirement).
Amongst others, the government also decided that farmers should only have to make one annual VAT and expenses submission. Farmers will only be liable for a 27.5% down payment of their income tax, rather than the 55% rate originally decided.
PASOK’s public relations office issued a statement claiming that the government decisions in favor of the farmers were based on a number of PASOK recommendations and asserted that if they had been implemented sooner, a lot of turmoil would have been avoided. The coalition government partners urged for making similar changes to the taxation of households and SMEs.
Farmers unions not convinced, vow to continue strike
Despite the generous government decisions in favor of the farmers, the unions appear determined to continue their strike protests, with the president of the federation of Larissa farmer cooperative unions Rizos Maroudas claiming that the government has not addressed their key demands.
Mr. Maroudas stressed that the government announcements were made for public relations and then explained that no initiatives were taken to reduce the cost of production and the demand for a tax-free threshold for income up to 20,000 euros plus 5,000 euros per child was ignored.
The sentiments amongst farmers at the Nikea roadblock were similar, who held a meeting with local bodies to discuss their demands and exchange opinions. Amongst those present were representatives of the truck owner unions, who in the past had openly clashed with the farmers, but expressed their support and solidarity to the farmer struggle.
The Secretary General of the Communist Party Dimitris Koutsoumpas will visit the Nikea road block on Friday to discuss the farmer demands, while on Saturday representatives from the 30 farmer road blocks will meet in Nikea to coordinate their efforts. Finally, a rally has been arranged for Sunday at the Nikea junction, where the farmers hope to see more people and bodies join them in their struggle.
