‘Greece is out of the woods’

Greece's Finance Minister Kostis Hatzidakis defended the introduction of the minimum presumptive income for freelance professionals and the self-employed based on which they were taxed for the first time this year, telling Kathimerini it is a "fair measure" toward salaried employees and pensioners who traditionally paid more tax. 

Data from the Independent Authority for Public Revenue (AADE) this year showed that 400,000 freelancers and self-employed declared an average monthly income of 268 euros, which appears to vindicate the minister's decision to impose the measure, despite the criticism it received. With the introduction of the minimum presumptive income, the takings of those more than 400,000 freelancers increased fourfold to 12,794 euros, which means that they had to pay an average tax of 2,058 euros from 1,245 euros last year. Hatzidakis says he "cannot...