Five meters to increase revenue to the Funds

By Dimitris Katsaganis

In the recovery of contributions from contributions, especially of employees, the government expects for 2022.

This expectation is reflected in the final draft budget for next year, which has been submitted by the Ministry of Finance. Specifically, the income from the current contributions (employees, non-employees) for the Insurance Funds, OAED and EOPYY is estimated by YPOIK to increase by 1.7% or by 368 million euros.

In terms of regulatory revenue for insurance companies, it is expected to increase by 12% or 148 million euros.

In relation to the insurance funds (e-EFKA, etc.), the budget, among other things, states that this change is due, in terms of revenue, mainly to the increase of revenues from insurance debt arrangements, the repayment terms of which were extended in 2021 due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

It is recalled that from last week, the employers and freelancers affected by the pandemic can apply for the 72 installments for the debts of the period March 2020-July 2021. This is the first measure that can lead to an increase in income. . At the same time, competent executives note in Capital.gr that the “thawing” of the notices of the Insurance Debt Collection Center (KEAO) together with the seizures, can increase the non-regulated revenues. , compared to 38% in September 2019, pushing down the entire category of insurance receipts.

Regarding OAED, it is stated that this increase is due to the estimated increase in employment, according to the revised macroeconomic scenario and the execution data of the 2021 budget. Measures such as the reduction of contributions contribute to the increase in employment. It is reminded that last year the extraordinary reduction by 3 points will be valid in 2022, while an additional reduction of 0.5% in the contributions of the auxiliary insurance has already been voted. This is the second measure aimed at increasing revenue provided that the “hole” from the loss of revenue from the reduction will be offset (although this is not reflected in the budget) by a proportionally larger increase in employment and so the “reservoir” of pumping insurance contributions.

The third measure (or rather a package of measures) concerns state-subsidized employment programs. The government has already instituted 105,000 new jobs for 2022, without including OAED programs. Specifically, 25,000 new public benefit jobs will be “run”. The state will not only subsidize the salaries of “public benefit” employees, but also their contributions. In addition, 100% of the contributions will be subsidized by an additional 50,000 unemployed people who will be hired in private companies. The state will also subsidize the wage bill for hiring 35,000 unemployed people without previous service, facilitating the payment of their contributions.

The fourth measure is the increase of the minimum wage. It has already been decided to increase the minimum wage by 2% from January 1, 2022, while the Prime Minister himself has announced a new increase within 2022. The Minister. Labor has stated that the second increase will be “quite significant” than the first. Scenarios predict that the second increase will range after 4% -6% and even newer information Capital.gr will come much earlier before mid-2022, possibly in the Spring of 2022. An increase in the gross minimum wage (by 2% next January and possibly by 4% -6% later) could lead to a corresponding increase in revenue from contributions to close to 600,000 employees.

The fifth measure is none other than public recruitment. More than 45,000 recruitments are planned for 2022. Nearly 20,000 are permanent and 25,000 are temporary. Given that civil servants have joined EFKA, the recruitment of new staff in public services will be a strong “injection” of contributions from contributions.

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