Lawmakers debate tax breaks, vote on Wednesday

Greek lawmakers on Tuesday debated new tax breaks proposed by the leftist Syriza administration, seeking to reverse some of the austerity imposed during years of international bailouts.
The package brought to parliament includes an annual bonus for 2.5 million pensioners, whose earnings were depleted by the crisis, and reductions in sales taxes on items ranging from food and energy to the cost of eating out.
Those taxes had been increased in 2015, when Greece received its third international bailout.
Lawmakers were expected to vote on the bills on Wednesday, pushing back a decision initially expected on Tuesday because of a large number of speakers, parliamentary officials said.

"This is another milestone of the effort we undertook to stand by those who carried the burden of the (financial) crisis," Labour Minister Effie Achtsioglou told parliament.
The...