A noteworthy increase in arrears to the Greek state was recorded in December 2017, a month that included an installment of ever-higher income taxes, property taxes (ENFIA) and a deadline for paying annual vehicle registration fees.
The additional arrears bumped the overall total owed to the Greek state – with a large chunk of those debts now considered as non-collectible and even extending back decades – past the “psychological” 100-billion-euro mark, namely, at 101.9 billion euros.
If arrears, new and old, to social security funds are included, then the total reaches 133.2 billion euros.
According to figures released by the Independent Public Revenues Authority, collection measures have been imposed against more than 1.05 million taxpayers in the country, mostly seizures of bank deposits in their name, while another 1.744 million taxpayers are threatened with automatic seizures of movable and immovable assets (property). All total, more than 4.068 million taxpayers in the country of roughly 11 million residents owe the tax bureau money, ranging from a few hundred euros to tens of millions of euros in unpaid back taxes and fines.
New arrears in 2017 almost reached the 13-billion-euro mark (12.93 billion euros), which were tacked on to the 88.9 billion euros in arrears, as recorded on Jan. 1, 2017.
Roughly 2.7 billion euros were collected from “old arrears” in 2017, while 2.4 billion euros were collected from the “new arrears” figure.
New arrears to social security and pension funds increased by 756.4 million euros in the fourth quarter of 2017.
