The overperformance of tax revenues in the first two months of 2022 allows us to proceed with prudence in strengthening both vulnerable households and the middle class, where possible, said in his speech in Parliament, the Deputy Minister of Finance Theodoros Skylakakis, school request of the official opposition to reduce the VAT on fuel.
Be patient, and in the coming days the government will present its policy, said Mr. Skylakakis, addressing the SYRIZA MPs, emphasizing the difference between the targeted policies of the government and the horizontal policies (proposed by the opposition) and which – as noted – they take into account neither budgetary possibilities nor the social reality of how fuels are used.
SYRIZA has a special interest in fuel, because it was the last government to increase the fuel tax on 1/1/2017, said Mr. Skylakakis in his intervention on the bill for the Unified Public Procurement Authority. He also noted that the current fiscal reality is difficult, that the war in Ukraine has changed all geopolitical balances and has brought a “storm of price increases” in energy, food and other raw materials, which came in addition to the imported price increases caused by the pandemic.
“In terms of fiscal stability, the opposition was asking us to spend much more, tens of billions, in the first phase of the pandemic. Fortunately we did not do that, and we are entering a new storm, having cash in a very difficult period in terms of interest rates and “In terms of real uncertainty, which does not allow us to have a clear picture of how the budget will be formed,” said the Deputy Minister of Finance.
Finally, he pointed out that rising international energy prices are making the country poorer. We do not produce oil or natural gas, and when you import a more expensive product, which is forced to be imported, then GDP decreases and we must take this into account, said Mr. Skylakakis.
Commenting on the intervention of the Deputy Minister of Finance, SYRIZA MP Christos Spirtzis said that “with his argument he demolished the” immovable “. The economy is going” excellently “but has no money to reduce the fuel consumption tax”. “How does this magic happen? I congratulate you for keeping a reserve and predicting the war, and you did not give money to public health so that 30,000 of our fellow citizens do not die,” added Mr. Spirtzis and asked: “And how will you deal with the crisis without tax cuts? “Will you explain these magics to us at some point?”
Source: ΑΠΕ-ΜΠΕ
Source: Capital
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