Strange Priorities (29/01/15)



Here's an interesting 'tidbit' from the BBC regarding the politics of Greece - one of the five major policy priorities of Syriza which is the largest party of the new Greek Government.

Apparently Syriza is intent on scrapping a unpopular property tax known as 'Enfia' which sounds a bit like the Council Tax in the UK which helps to pay for a whole range of local services.

But in place of Enfia there will apparently be a new tax levied on luxury homes, of which there will be relatively few, and only larger second properties, presumably because so many Greeks (like so Spaniards, French and Italians) have second or 'holiday' homes.  

So as the BBC says, it seems that Syriza are not just representing the less well off in Greece, but the interests of the second-home-owning relatively well off middle classes as well - which is not how things look from the outside, of course.

BBC News 

Scrapping of property tax 

It is not just the poor who voted for Syriza but the middle classes as well. Property owners in Athens's leafy, northern suburbs were enticed with the promised abolition of a hated annual levy on private property.

Known as "Enfia", the tax was introduced in 2011 as an emergency measure but made permanent under the previous government.

Instead, there will be a tax on luxury homes and large second properties.

Greeks take a stand against unpopular tax

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