The coalition government intends to submit a bill next week in order to provide a series of settlement options, for taxpayers and businesses alike, for tax and insurance debts. The troika, however, has expressed its disagreement with many of the included provisions.
Greece’s creditors object to many of these provisions, the most important being the interest rate for determining the surcharges for late payment, as well as the discount for those who will pay part of or the full debt, in a lump sum or in less than 72 installments. The maximum number of installments, namely 100, will remain unchanged; how the reduction of surcharges will be implemented though is still up for discussion.
As for the interest rate, at present it is 8.76% and the government wants to reduce it to 4.5%, while the troika insists on 5%. The likeliest scenario is for the troika to prevail in this case. It has been decided to offer incentives to taxpayers who have already made a settlement to continue with it, as they will not be able to apply for the new settlement of 72 or 100 installments.
Finance Ministry officer argue that should the troika delay in approving the draft bill then the government will be forced to legislate unilaterally, which could affect relations with the creditors. The troika’s technical teams appear to have been instructed to not allow these provisions to be used for benefits.
The government negotiators will try to convince the troika that the settlement will increase public revenue, since every month debts towards the government increase by 1.5 billion euros. This is not because the taxpayers do not want to pay their debts, but rather they are unable to pay them.
