New tax hikes in Greece
For people in Greece the new year has begun with various tax hikes. Coffee, cigarettes, fuel and other products have become more expensive. The state is hoping to raise an additional 2.45 billion euros per year with the new tax measures. Greek journalists see the people at the mercy of the creditors and doubt that the economy will recover.
Greeks made to cough up again
The Greeks are constantly being called on to make new sacrifices without any prospect of their situation improving, Dimokratia complains:
“While household budgets are shrinking, taxes are rising. The citizens are yet again being made to cough up without being offered any alternative except a return to the times of poverty. At the same time the government is obediently fulfilling all the creditors' inhumane demands, increasing taxes on goods and services, cutting pensions and demanding devastating contributions from freelancers! … All this is occurring in an economic environment that resembles a minefield. The much praised 'recovery' exists only in the wild imagination of those who are somehow trying to con the Greek gladiators in the austerity arena.”
At the mercy of the creditors
The creditors don’t care at all about the economic and social wellbeing of the Greeks, commentator Dimitris Papakonstantinou writes indignantly on the economic portal Capital:
“The accomplices to this strategy, which will lead to a dead end and will cause more problems than it will solve for the economy, are Greece’s EU partners and the IMF technocrats. ... But ultimately it’s not the foreigners who have to worry about the survival of the country’s citizens. For them it’s enough if their loans are repaid. The Greek government has responsibility and is supposed to have sympathy for Greek society. But if impoverishment is a political goal, what hopes can we have?”