Poor Widows out in force

From the BBC:

One of those who cannot afford to pay the [property] tax is 87-year-old Katerina Leta. She lives with her grandson, Tasos Dimitriadies, a mature student in a small apartment in north Athens. The property has been in their family for generations (1) but without a single income between them, they are dependent on relatives for most of their expenses...

He says he cannot afford it and won't borrow the money because he is angry there is no exemption for people in his position."They are asking us to pay a tax that we paid when we bought the house and the constructor paid when he built the house," (2) he tells the BBC World Service...

In cafes and tavernas, talk of the tax seeps into almost every conversation and many refer to it as the "haratsi", a name for the hated levy imposed on them under the Ottoman occupation. Mayor Iraklis Gotzis is encouraging his constituents not to pay the tax Even the union representing electricity workers at state run company DEI has called on its members to boycott the tax, describing it as "barbaric"...(3)

The Greek government further alienated itself when Deputy Prime Minister Theodoros Pangalos, part of the government that devised the tax, told Mega TV channel that he could not afford to pay the €7,500 (£6,250, $9,785) bill for the many properties he owned... (4)

And new Prime Minister Lucas Papademos decided earlier this month that the levy would not be withdrawn at the end of the year because it was "absolutely necessary to ensure that public finances did not stray from the targets set". But he did offer some concessions, promising to seek a fairer way of excluding those unable to pay the tax, which ranges between €0.50 and €20 per square meter depending on the location of the property...

With a mother who has cancer and a son who is a full-time student living at home, Dimitra Koutsis struggles to make ends meet on her meagre pension. Unable to afford the tax, she has been given another fortnight to pay up.

"I am hoping that something will change, that they will see that this is madness," she says, "My mother has cancer and she needs to be comfortable. We even keep her medicines in the fridge so I don't know how we would manage. (5) It is pure blackmail, that is what it is. (6) Next we will be finding taxes on our water bills and who knows where it will end."

Greece's highest court is considering whether the threat of withdrawing people's power supply is unconstitutional, but so far the measure seems to have been effective. The government says it has already collected 80% of the first wave of property taxes (7).

1) What relevance does that have to anything? Is he suggesting that only arrivistes should pay it? This attitude has been drummed into the British, that the longer land has been occupied by the same family, the worthier the family is. Why? It just means they could never be bothered to do anything apart from collect rent.

2) Well obviously he didn't. That's like saying "I don't want to pay my car tax because the manufacturer paid corporation tax".

3) Ooooh! An adjective! "Barbaric"! Well that proves it then, doesn't it?

4) So it's not huge amounts of money, is it? And if he can't afford to pay for them all, then he can sell a few.

5) Wow! What a sob story. Mrs Koutsis is an even Poorer Widow than Mrs Leta!

6) No it's not blackmail, it's a tax and you have to pay it. It's funny how she's quite happy to collect her "meagre pension", pick up the drugs for her poor sick mother or send her son to a subsidised university, all of which are paid out of taxes levied on other people.

7) 80% is pretty impressive by Greek standards, which is yet another argument in favour of such taxes.

Via Drewster at HPC