More than six million taxpayers in Greece, about nine million in total (7 out of 10), declare an annual income of less than 10,000 euros to the tax office, for a total of 18.3 billion euros.
However, due to the fact that about two million taxpayers declare incomes below those determined by the Internal Revenue Service based on the presumption of a living wagethe total taxable income of those who declare up to €10,000 per year ends up being 24 billion euros, i.e. 5.7 billion euros more than what they wrote in the forms of the tax office.
These impressive numbers are the result of the tax audits filed annually by 8,929,000 citizens with a tax number in Greece, with a total taxable income of around 86 billion euros.
They don’t pay taxes
It is worth emphasizing that most of the income below 10,000 euros is not taxed, since it is mainly wages or pensions.
In addition, the €10,000 tax-free limit was on the parties’ electoral agenda, as both New Democracy and SYRIZA pledged ahead of the elections to increase the tax-free limit in the next 4 years so that even more people are exempt from taxation.
New Democracy has included in its program for the next four years a commitment to increase the tax-free allowance by 1000 euros for each child, and SYRIZA talks about increasing the tax-free allowance for everyone without exception (not only for working and retired people, but also for other categories citizens) at the level of 10,000 euros and further the amount should increase depending on the number of children in the family.
Estimated income
According to the latest available AADE data, out of 8,929,096 taxpayers, those who declare an annual income below 10,000 euros are 6,045,895 citizens.
This fact is also the main reason why the Ministry of Finance has not “cancelled” the so-called “conditional income” for many years. [введенный кредиторами страны в 2011 году в рамках первой финансовой помощи], because he competently believes that many of the above citizens do not declare their real incomes, because they evade paying taxes. Entering in fact unconditional presumption of guilt against all citizens of the country.
On the other hand, “probable income” in many cases attracts taxpayers who annually declare everything they collect down to the last euro, but because of some assets they may have inherited or otherwise acquired, such as real estate or a car , the state believes they can’t justify their content and therefore evade taxes. Therefore, they are subject to a fictitious imputed tax..
The fact that 1,570,769 taxpayers present to the tax office an annual income of up to 1,000 euros, while the total amount of this income is 170 million euros, is very impressive…
In fact, of these, 803,685 taxpayers claim that they do not receive even 1 euro per year.
Income from 1000 to 5000 euros
Very low incomes between 1,001 and 5,000 euros are reported annually by 2,067,972 inhabitants of Greece. In addition, 2,407,154 taxpayers present to the tax office an annual income of between 5,001 and 10,000 euros.
It is worth noting the fact that 14,720 taxpayers declare an annual income of more than 100,000 euros.
Income of 5.6 million euros and above
There are also 591 taxpayers who declare an annual income of more than 900,000 euros each, for a total of 3.34 billion euros. That is an average of 5.6 million euros.
3% of Greeks represent 21.7% of income
The number of persons who declared annual income in the amount of more than 36,000 euros, only 3% of the country’s population of residents who are tax residents and file a tax return, or in absolute terms 260,146 people. This 3% is 21.7% of total taxable income.
And what is actually the income received by the inhabitants of Greece? From the above statistics, it is not clear where the data on average wages in 2700 euro? However, if we refer to more competent sources, for example, Trading Economics, then the average salary in Greece in 2023 is €1,060.45 per month before taxes, and net (net) average wages are 943 euros. At the same time, qualified professionals receive 1510 eurosand unskilled workers 717 euros.
At the same time, the population of the country is about 10.3 million people, about 4.1 million are officially employed, and the number of unemployed exceeds 596 thousand. Every fifth inhabitant of Greece works part-time, and more than 30 thousand only up to 4 hours a week or 16 hours a month. These are the official numbers. What is really happening, and what income others receive – a secret hidden behind seven seals.
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