The Ministry of Finance has provided clarifications regarding the offsetting of tax refunds and the ENFIA real estate tax, arguing that there are political motivations behind media reports that have ‘less to do with factual information’.
In its statement the Ministry points out that the offsetting of tax returns and amounts due is not a new legislative initiative, but rather has been place for many years. The Ministry also notes that between January and May 2016 the rate of tax refunds is 18.57%, far above the targets. This is also far greater than the 6.11% rate documented in the January-May period in 2014, during “the infamous success story”.
Furthermore the Finance Ministry added that overdue debts towards the State increased by 2,234,435,396 euros between January-April 2016, compared to 2,880,435,655 euros during the same period of 2015 and 3,983,672,440 in 2014.
