ATHENS: Greece’s main opposition new democracy (ND) leader kyriakos Mitsotakis this week again reiterated his party’s standing position that a reduction in tax rates in the country is “non-negotiable”, regardless of whether institutional creditors accept the Greek side’s requests for lower annual primary budget surplus targets as a percentage of GDP.”We must point out that reduced taxes do not mean, by necessity, less revenues for the state. There are instances when a reduction in tax rates can lead to an increase in revenues. This occurred, in fact, with VAT rates in the food and beverage sector, which was undertaken by the Samaras government (2012-2014), when state revenues increased,” Mitsotakis said.Besides Mitsotakis’ continued emphasis on lowering taxes in the still bailout-dependent country, he again referred to accelerated reforms in the state administration and economy, as well as stepped up privatizations.
