Parliament: Greece-Singapore convention on the elimination of double taxation approved

The draft law ratifying the agreement between the Hellenic Republic and the Republic of Singapore on the elimination of double taxation and the avoidance of fiscal evasion with respect to income and capital taxes was approved by a majority of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Economic Affairs. ND and the Movement for Change supported the ratification of the agreement. SYRIZA and the Hellenic Solution stated a reservation for the discussion in the plenary. KKE and MERA25 voted against.

“The purpose of these agreements is to create conditions for sound economic growth, but also to have a stable and secure tax environment, which will not be wronged. “sovereignty based on the principle of territoriality of the tax in combination with the criterion of source of income”, said the Deputy Minister of Finance Apostolos Vesyropoulos and added that this agreement was formed on the basis of the model established by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. The government’s long-term and constant pursuit of safeguarding the country’s financial interests remains.

The need to develop economic relations with Singapore was mentioned by the ND rapporteur Ioannis Paschalidis, who pointed out that “the phenomenon of double income taxation is an obstacle to international economic relations, the exchange of goods and services and the movement of capital and persons” . Referring to the importance of ratifying the agreement, the ND MP pointed out that Singapore has long been the world leader in the business process according to the World Bank and was recognized as the 2nd most competitive economy by the World Economic Forum. 2018, while occupying the 6th place, as the least corrupt market with the International Transparency Organization. It is also ranked the 3rd most popular destination for tech professionals and ranks 1st along with Sweden according to the global internet participation index.

“This agreement was signed during the days of SYRIZA. Let me emphasize that Mr. Katrougalos was the first and only Foreign Minister, who visited Singapore and of course during the days of SYRIZA was established in 2017 and the Greek embassy in Singapore with the aim of active “Our presence in a country with significant international economic activity with which our relationship, especially in the field of merchant shipping, was characterized and was auspicious”, said the SYRIZA rapporteur Sultana Eleftheriadou and pointed out that in 2017, more than 10,000 companies of the European Union were based in Singapore and bilateral trade in goods had reached 53 billion. In 2019, when this agreement was signed, Greek exports to Singapore and imports from Singapore, had skyrocketed. Referring to the implementation of methods to eliminate double taxation while combating tax evasion, the SYRIZA MP said that tax evasion is a thorn in the side of Greece, because the government does not have the political will to deal with it.

The special speaker of the Movement for Change, Costas Skandalidis, warned that the 2022 budget, which was approved a few days ago, will not be able to be implemented with the optimistic look under which the government saw it. Mr. Skandalidis pointed out that the Parliament should at some point study the data and the results of all transnational agreements for the avoidance of double taxation, so that these discussions have a substantial content and it can be ascertained that these agreements have been utilized so far.

“The contract concerns companies and their executives that have business activities in Singapore and vice versa in Singapore companies in Greece”, said the special spokesman of the KKE Ioannis Delis and added that “this is a very formal case of a contract with which they are legislated and tax incentives are introduced with lower tax rates of the business groups of our country but also of Singapore, in order to create that well-known friendly investment environment in combination always of course with the crushing of labor and wage rights of employees, in order to come to the multifaceted development”. The KKE MP also stated that the Greek shipping capital, in addition to the constitutional guarantee of its provocative tax exemptions, sees its privileges protected by transnational agreements, such as the current one.

“This agreement concerns the elimination of double taxation and the avoidance of tax evasion, although Singapore is considered a tax haven with a very friendly environment, as at least advertised by the companies that establish offshore,” said Vassilis Viliardos, Greek’s expert spokesman. , noting that Singapore “is distinguished for its technological development, has low taxation, opaque banking system” adding that technological development and digitization do not imply fair taxation, when there are experienced consultants and complex legislation. Mr. Billiardos pointed out that according to the Bank of Greece, between 2018, 2019 and 2020, investment flows of 24 million, 66 million and 44 million, respectively, were realized from Singapore to Greece, from only 3 million in 2017. , while there are no significant flows-outflows from Greece to Singapore, and it is probable that the money coming to Greece is money of Greeks who are in Singapore.

The special speaker of MERA25 Fotini Bakadima said that both the previous and the current government, with such contracts, seek to secure a share of the pie to domestic oligarchs, mainly those who are active in the field of merchant shipping. “While this is a contract that aims to serve oligarchic interests – especially the shipping capital – all the governments of the parties of the memorandum arc, as now the one of New Democracy and Kyriakos Mitsotakis, try to present it to us as a benefit “Greek society as a whole. And this is because the tax base is supposed to be expanded, a fact that will result in the return of more revenues to the state budget, despite the lower tax rates set by this agreement”, the MEPA MP remarked25.

SOURCE: ΑΠΕ-ΜΠΕ