Jakarta Globe – AFP, Feb 23, 2015
Berlin.
Greece has drawn up a 7.3 billion-euro ($8.3 billion) tax hit list aimed at the
country’s oligarchs and lucrative smuggling industry, a German newspaper said,
as part of reform proposals due to its creditors on Monday.
European
finance ministers on Friday gave Athens just over three days to draw up a list
acceptable to its international creditors in exchange for a four-month
extension of its debt bailout.
Popular
German tabloid Bild reported that the Greek government hopes to garner 2.5
billion euros in tax receipts from the fortunes of powerful Greek tycoons,
citing sources close to the hard-left government.
A similar
amount would be drawn from back taxes owed to the state by individuals and
businesses, Bild said.
The report
said an additional crackdown on illegal smuggling of petrol and cigarettes
would yield another 2.3 billion euros for the government coffers.
Greece’s
hard-left Syriza government is walking a tightrope between its commitments to
European creditors and its electoral pledges to end austerity in a country
struggling to recover from severe economic crisis.
Two
previous rounds of talks ended in acrimony with Greece accusing Germany and
other hardline EU member states of sabotaging a deal.
To win
Friday’s hard-fought deal, Athens pledged to refrain from one-sided measures
that could compromise its fiscal targets and had to abandon plans to use some
11 billion euros in leftover European bank support funds to help restart the
Greek economy.
“Europe has
some breathing space, nothing more, and certainly not a resolution. Now it’s up
to Athens,” German foreign minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier told Bild.
“The
fundamentals — namely assistance in exchange for reform — must remain the
same.”
On Tuesday,
Greece’s creditors will decide whether to proceed with Friday’s agreement after
considering the proposals, with the chance that the compromise could be
scrapped if they are not satisfied.
If Athens
sticks to its commitments, it stands to receive up to 7.2 billion euros in
funds still left in its 240 billion euro bailout from the EU and the
International Monetary Fund.
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