Greece May Tax the Dead to Plug Budget Gap
By COSTAS PARIS And ALKMAN GRANITSAS
ATHENS—Facing slumping tax collections, Greece's Socialist government is considering creative means to close its budget gap, which could include everything from seizing the unclaimed assets of the dead to slapping new taxes on fizzy drinks.
Ahead of a visit by the country's international creditors next Monday, the government is scrambling to find €22 billion ($30.96 billion) in additional spending cuts and tax measures over the next three years, as required under a €110 billion bailout it received from the European Union and the International Monetary Fund last May.
"Tax collection is not coming in as expected, so the government, beyond pushing on that front, will look for other ways to close the gap," said a senior government official. "Seeking funds from unclaimed inheritances and from [bank] accounts from people long deceased, are some things that are being considered," he added. "A tax on soft drinks is also being seriously considered."
The unclaimed assets of the deceased, some of which have hung in legal limbo for decades, could net the state around €4 billion in revenue, the official said.
Under the international bailout, the government must present its package of spending cuts and tax measures by the end of this month, and the government's cabinet must formally adopt it by mid-April before passing it into law by mid-May.
Along with a tax on the dead, the package could include a raft of other measures that would abolish all tax breaks on individuals earning more than €70,000 per year, eliminate the lower value-added tax rates on Greece's tourist-dependent islands and raise road taxes for car owners.
Also being considered are policies to lower the tax-free threshold for property owners—including first time home owners—as well as special charges on Greece's hundreds of thousands of illegally built homes, said a second government official.
But the government is facing increasing resistance against its austerity measures from within the government, the business community and also the wider public. A number of ministries have said further reductions in their budgets could seriously jeopardize social services. Ministries like Greece's education and public order ministries, in particular, are strongly opposed to any additional cuts, and the country's labor, health and farm ministers have also asked for easier spending goals.
The senior government official said the government expects to raise about €15 billion from cost cutting and €7 billion from extra revenue, but the targets "are very difficult" to achieve.
The government hopes the measures will meet its obligations to its creditors and lower the yield the government would have to pay if it issued debt. The spread between Greek 10-year bonds and their benchmark German counterparts on Monday was above 9.0 percentage points now.
The second official said the government needs a spread around 3.0-3.5 percentage points to issue debt.
If the government isn't successful, it may have to tap Europe's temporary bailout mechanism—the European Financial Stability Facility—next year in order to raise the €27 billion in long-term issuance that it needs next year, the official said.