July budget targets missed as taxpayers fail to pay first installment

Finance Ministry data released on Thursday confirm there is a black hole in state revenues for the month of July, mainly due to a large number of people not having paid the first installment of their additional income tax.

Net revenues for July amounted to 4.931 billion euros - 756 million below the target set in the medium-term program for 2018-21.

Revenues from personal income tax were 215 million euros off target, while tax from businesses was 161 million euros short.

However, revenue from other sources came in below target too, including VAT on tobacco (24 million euros) and petroleum products (23 million euros).

The hole was caused partly because of increased tax returns in July that reached 468 million euros - 242 million more than the monthly target set in the midterm program.

In a bid to ease concerns, Deputy Finance Minister Katerina...