Non Paper, 08.07.2015
1. Η ελληνική πρόταση που κατατέθηκε προς τον Ευρωπαϊκό Μηχανισμό Σταθερότητας [ESM] αφορά τη χρηματοδότηση των δανειακών αναγκών της χώρας από την 01/07/2015 έως τις 30/06/2018, για τρία δηλαδή χρόνια. Και περιλαμβάνει ακόμα την ρύθμιση του χρέους καθώς και εμπροσθοβαρές αναπτυξιακό πακέτο ύψους 35 δισ.
2. Στην πρόταση της ελληνικής κυβέρνησης οι στόχοι πρωτογενούς πλεονάσματος [1%, 2% και 3% του ΑΕΠ] θα επανεξεταστούν, καθώς τα δεδομένα έχουν μεταβληθεί.
3. Τα βασικά τρόφιμα και ο ΦΠΑ στα ξενοδοχεία είναι στο 13%. Διατηρείται η έκπτωση του ΦΠΑ στα νησιά μέχρι το τέλος του 2016, εκτός από τα πλουσιότερα και πιο τουριστικά. Η κατάργηση της έκπτωσης στα απομακρυσμένα νησιά θα γίνει στο τέλος του 2016 και όταν θα έχει δημιουργηθεί μηχανισμός αποζημίωσης των μόνιμων κατοίκων. Οι συντελεστές ΦΠΑ θα επανεξεταστούν στο τέλος του 2016.
4. Το ΕΚΑΣ θα χορηγείται μέχρι τον Ιανουάριο του 2020, οπότε και θα έχει δημιουργηθεί ένα νέο πλαίσιο κοινωνικής πρόνοιας.
5. Αναστολή της ρήτρας μηδενικού ελλείμματος μέχρι τον Οκτώβριο του 2015, που θα έρθει προς ψήφιση νέα νομοθεσία.
6. Σταδιακή κατάργηση της ειδικής φορολογικής μεταχείρισης για τους αγρότες με ομαλή αποκλιμάκωση της επιδότησης πετρελαίου που θα απορροφηθεί από την πτώση των διεθνών τιμών.
7. Αύξηση του εταιρικού φόρου από 26% στο 28%.
8. Νέα πρόταση για ολοκληρωμένο σχέδιο καταπολέμησης της φοροδιαφυγής με:
** έλεγχο των αδήλωτων καταθέσεων μέσω διασταύρωσης των τραπεζικών συναλλαγών στην Ελλάδα και στο εξωτερικό,
** εισαγωγή προγράμματος εθελοντικής δήλωσης με τις κατάλληλες ποινές, κίνητρα και διαδικασίες βεβαίωσης σύμφωνα με τις καλύτερες διεθνείς πρακτικές,
** αίτηση στις χώρες μέλη της ΕΕ για παροχή δεδομένων σχετικά με την ιδιοκτησία ελλήνων και την προέλευσή της
9. Θέσπιση περιουσιολογίου.
10. Ο νέος νόμος για τις συλλογικές διαπραγματεύσεις θα είναι έτοιμος το τελευταίο τρίμηνο του 2015.
11. Στις αγορές προϊόντων, η κυβέρνηση:
** Θα διατηρήσει το σημερινό καθεστώς για τα ΜΗΣΥΦΑ [Μη Συνταγογραφούμενα Φάρμακα], ψωμί, γάλα, Κυριακές.
** Θα μειώσει τη γραφειοκρατία με τη δημιουργία «one stop shop» για τις επιχειρήσεις.
12. Μείωση συντελεστή σε φάρμακα, βιβλία, εισιτήρια θεάτρου σε 6% από 6,5%.
13. Βελτίωση του ποινικού δικαίου για τη φοροδιαφυγή.
14. Αύξηση φόρου ναυτιλιακών επιχειρήσεων και κατάργηση προνομίων εφοπλιστών.
15. Αύξηση φόρου πολυτελείας και εφαρμογή του και στα σκάφη αναψυχής.
16. Άμεση εφαρμογή του φόρου τηλεοπτικών διαφημίσεων.
17. Εισαγωγή σε συνεργασία με τον ΟΟΣΑ νέων μεταρρυθμίσεων για το σπάσιμο των καρτέλ σε χονδρικό εμπόριο, κατασκευές, ηλεκτρονικό εμπόριο, μέσα ενημέρωσης.
Greece:
Prior Actions
Policy Commitments and Actions to be taken in
consultation with EC/ECB/IMF staff:
1. 2015 supplementary budget and 2016-19 MTFS[1]
Adopt effective as of July 1, 2015 a supplementary 2015 budget and a
2016–19 medium-term fiscal strategy, supported by a sizable and credible
package of measures. The new fiscal path is premised on a primary surplus
target of (1, 2, 3), and 3.5 percent of GDP in 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018. The
package includes VAT reforms (¶2), other tax policy measures (¶3), pension
reforms (¶4), public administration reforms (¶5), reforms addressing shortfalls
in tax collection enforcement (¶6), and other parametric measures as specified
below.
2. VAT reform
Adopt legislation to reform the VAT system that will be effective as of
July 1, 2015. The reform will target a net revenue gain of 1 percent of GDP on
an annual basis from parametric changes. The new VAT system will: (i) unify the
rates at a standard 23 percent rate, which will include restaurants and
catering, and a reduced 13 percent rate for basic food, energy, hotels, and
water (excluding sewage), and a super-reduced rate of 6 percent for
pharmaceuticals, books, and theater; (ii) streamline exemptions to broaden the
base and raise the tax on insurance; and (iii) Eliminate discounts on islands,
starting with the islands with higher incomes and which are the most popular
tourist destinations, except the most remote ones. This will be completed by
end-2016, as appropriate and targeted fiscally neutral measures to compensate
those inhabitants that are most in need are determined. The new VAT rates on
hotels and islands will be implemented from October 2015.
The increase of the VAT rate described above may be reviewed at the end
of 2016, provided that equivalent additional revenues are collected through
measures taken against tax evasion and to improve collectability of VAT. Any
decision to review and revise shall take place in consultation with the
institutions.
3. Fiscal structural measures
Adopt legislation to:
· close possibilities for income tax
avoidance (e.g., tighten the definition of farmers), take measures to increase
the corporate income tax in 2015 and require 100 percent advance payments for
corporate income and gradually for individual business income tax by 2017; phase
out the preferential tax treatment of farmers in the income tax code by 2017;
raise the solidarity surcharge;
· abolish subsidies for excise on diesel oil for farmers
and better target eligibility to halve heating oil subsidies expenditure in the
budget 2016;
· in view of any revision of the zonal
property values, adjust the property tax rates if necessary to safeguard the
2015 and 2016 property tax revenues at €2.65 billion and adjust the alternative
minimum personal income taxation.
· eliminate the cross-border
withholding tax introduced by the installments act (law XXXX/2015) and reverse
the recent amendments to the ITC in the public administration act (law
XXXX/2015), including the special treatment of agricultural income.
· adopt outstanding reforms on the
codes on income tax, and tax procedures: introduce a new Criminal Law on Tax
Evasion and Fraud to amend the Special Penal Law 2523/1997 and any other
relevant legislation, and replace Article 55, ¶s 1 and 2, of the TPC, with a
view, inter alia, to modernize and broaden the definition of tax fraud and
evasion to all taxes; abolish all Code of Book and Records fines, including
those levied under law 2523/1997 develop the tax framework for collective
investment vehicles and their participants consistently with the ITC and in
line with best practices in the EU.
· adopt legislation to upgrade the
organic budget law to: (i) introduce a framework for independent agencies; (ii)
phase out ex-ante audits of the Hellenic Court of Auditors and account officers
(ypologos); (iii) give GDFSs exclusive financial service capacity and GAO
powers to oversee public sector finances; and (iv) phase out fiscal audit
offices by January 2017.
· increase the rate of the tonnage tax
and phase out special tax treatments of the shipping industry.
By September 2015, (i) simplify the personal income tax credit schedule;
(ii) re-design and integrate into the ITC the solidarity surcharge for income
of 2016 to more effectively achieve progressivity in the income tax system; (iii)
issue a circular on fines to ensure the comprehensive and consistent
application of the TPC; (iv) and other remaining reforms as specified in ¶9 of
the IMF Country Report No. 14/151.
On health care, effective as of July 1, 2015, (i) re-establish full INN
prescription, without exceptions, (ii) reduce as a first step the price of all
off-patent drugs to 50 percent and all generics to 32.5 percent of the patent
price, by repealing the grandfathering clause for medicines already in the
market in 2012, and (iii)) review and limit the prices of diagnostic tests to
bring structural spending in line with claw back targets; and (iv) collect in
the full the 2014 clawback for private clinics, diagnostics and
pharmaceuticals, and extend their 2015 clawback ceilings to 2016.
Launch the Social Welfare Review under the agreed terms of reference
with the technical assistance of the World Bank to target savings of ½ percent
of GDP which can help finance a fiscally neutral gradual roll-out of the GMI in
January 2016.
Adopt legislation to:
· reduce the expenditure ceiling for
military spending by €100 million in 2015 and by €200
million in 2016 with a targeted set of actions, including a reduction in
headcount and procurement;
· introduce reform of
the income tax code, [inter alia covering capital taxation], investment
vehicles, farmers and the self- employed, etc.;
· raise the corporate
tax rate from 26% to 28%;
· introduce tax on
television advertisements;
· announce
international public tender for the acquisition of television licenses and
usage related fees of relevant frequencies; and
· extend
implementation of luxury tax on recreational vessels in excess of 5 meters and
increase the rate from 10% to 13%, coming into effect from the collection of
2014 income taxes and beyond;
· extend Gross Gaming
Revenues (GGR) taxation of 30% on VLT games expected to be installed at second
half of 2015 and 2016;
· generate revenues
through the issuance of 4G and 5G licenses.
We will consider some compensating measures, in case
of fiscal shortfalls: (i) Increase the tax rate to income for rents, for annual
incomes below €12,000 to 15% (from 11%) with an additional revenue of €160
million and for annual incomes above €12,000 to 35% (from 33%) with an
additional revenue of €40 million; (ii) the corporate income tax will increase by an additional
percentage point (i.e. from 28% to 29%) that will result in additional revenues
of €130 million.
4. Pension reform
The Authorities recognise that the pension system is unsustainable and
needs fundamental reforms. This is why they will implement in full the 2010
pension reform law (3863/2010), and implement in full or replace/adjust the
sustainability factors for supplementary and lump-sum pensions from the 2012
reform as a part of the new pension reform in October 2015 to achieve
equivalent savings and take further steps to improve the pension system.
Effective from July 1, 2015 the authorities will phase-in reforms that
would deliver estimated permanent savings of ¼-½ percent of GDP in 2015 and 1 percent
of GDP on a full year basis in 2016 and thereafter by adopting legislation to:
· create strong disincentives to early
retirement, including the adjustment of early retirement penalties, and through
a gradual elimination of grandfathering to statutory retirement age and early
retirement pathways progressively adapting to the limit of statutory retirement
age of 67 years, or 62 and 40 years of contributions by 2022, applicable for
all those retiring (except arduous professions, and mothers with children with
disability) with immediate application;
· adopt legislation so that
withdrawals from the Social Insurance Fund will incur an annual penalty, for
those affected by the extension of the retirement age period, equivalent to 10
percent on top of the current penalty of 6 percent;
· integrate into ETEA all
supplementary pension funds and ensure that, starting January 1, 2015, all
supplementary pension funds are only financed by own contributions;
· better target social pensions by
increasing OGA uninsured pension;
· Gradually phase out the solidarity
grant (EKAS) for all pensioners by end-December 2019. This shall be legislated
immediately and shall start as regards the top 20% of beneficiaries in March 2016
with the modalities of the phase out to be agreed with the institutions;
· freeze monthly guaranteed
contributory pension limits in nominal terms until 2021;
· provide to people retiring after 30
June 2015 the basic, guaranteed contributory, and means tested pensions only at
the attainment of the statutory normal retirement age of currently 67 years;
· increase the health contributions
for pensioners from 4% to 6% on average and extend it to supplementary
pensions;
· phase out all state-financed
exemptions and harmonize contribution rules for all pension funds with the
structure of contributions to IKA from 1 July 2015;
Moreover, in order to restore the sustainability of the pension system,
the authorities will by 31 October 2015, legislate further reforms to take
effect from 1 January 2016; (i) specific
design and parametric improvements to establish a closer link between
contributions and benefits; (ii) broaden and modernize the contribution and
pension base for all self-employed, including by switching from notional to
actual income, subject to minimum required contribution rules; (iii) revise and
rationalize all different systems of basic, guaranteed contributory and means
tested pension components, taking into account incentives to work and
contribute; (iv) the main elements of a comprehensive SSFs consolidation,
including any remaining harmonization of contribution and benefit payment rules
and procedures across all funds; (v) abolish all nuisance charges financing
pensions and offset by reducing benefits or increasing contributions in
specific funds to take effect from 31 October 2015; and (vi) harmonize pension
benefit rules of the agricultural fund (OGA) with the rest of the pension
system in a pro rata manner, unless OGA is merged into other funds. The
consolidation of social insurance funds will take place by end 2017. In 2015,
the process will be activated through legislation to consolidate the social
insurance funds under a single entity and the operational consolidation will
have been completed by 31 December 2016. Further reductions in the operating costs
and a more effective management of fund resources including improved balancing
of needs between better-off and poorer-off funds will be actively encouraged.
The authorities will adopt legislation to fully offset the fiscal
effects of the implementation of court rulings on the 2012 pension reform.
In parallel to the reform of the pension system, a Social Welfare Review
will be carried out to ensure fairness of the various reforms.
The institutions are prepared to take into account other parametric measures
within the pension system of equivalent effect to replace some of the measures
mentioned above, taking into account their impact on growth, and provided that
such measures are presented to the institutions during the design phase and are
sufficiently concrete and quantifiable, and in the absence of this the default
option is what is specified above.
5. Public Administration, Justice and Anti
Corruption
Adopt legislation to:
· reform the unified wage grid,
effective 1 January, 2016, setting the key parameters in a fiscally neutral
manner and consistent with the agreed wage bill targets and with comprehensive
application across the public sector, including decompressing the wage
distribution across the wage spectrumin connection with the skill, performance
and responsibility of staff. (The authorities will also adopt legislation to
rationalise the specialised wage grids, by end-November 2015);
· align non-wage benefits such as
leave arrangements, per diems, travel allowances and perks, with best practices
in the EU, effective 1 January 2016;
· establish within the new MTFS
ceilings for the wage bill and the level of public employment consistent with
achieving the fiscal targets and ensuring a declining path of the wage bill
relative to GDP until 2019;
· hire managers and assess performance
of all employees (with the aim to complete the hiring of new managers by 31
December 2015 subsequent to a review process)
· introduce a new permanent mobility
scheme applied by Q4 2015. The scheme will promote the use of job description
and will be linked with an online database that will include all current
vacancies. Final decision on employee mobility will be taken by each service
concerned. This will rationalize the allocation of resources as well as the
staffing across the General Government.
· reform the Civil Procedure Code, in
line with previous agreements; introduce
measures to reduce the backlog of cases in administrative courts; work closely
with European institutions and technical assistance on e-justice, mediation and
judicial statistics
· strengthen the governance of ELSTAT.
It shall cover (i) the role and structure of the Advisory bodies of the
Hellenic Statistical System, including the recasting of the Council of ELSS to
an advisory Committee of the ELSS, and the role of the Good Practice Advisory
Committee (GPAC); (ii) the recruitment procedure for the President of ELSTAT,
to ensure that a President of the highest professional calibre is recruited,
following transparent procedures and selection criteria; (iii) the involvement
of ELSTAT as appropriate in any legislative or other legal proposal pertaining
to any statistical matter; (iv) other issues that impact the independence of
ELSTAT, including financial autonomy, the empowerment of ELSTAT to reallocate existing
permanent posts and to hire staff where it is needed and to hire specialised
scientific personnel, and the classification of the institution as a fiscal
policy body in the recent law 4270/2014; role and powers of Bank of Greece in
statistics in line with European legislation.
· Publish a revised Strategic Plan
against Corruption by 31 July 2015. Amend and implement the legal framework for
the declaration of assets and financing of the political parties and adopt
legislation insulating financial crime and anti-corruption investigations from
political intervention in individual cases.
Moreover, in collaboration with
the OECD, the Authorities will:
· Strengthen controls in public
entities and especially SOEs. Empower the Line Ministries to perform robust
audit and control inspections to supervised entities including SOEs.
· Strengthen controls and internal
audit processes in high spending Local Government Institutions and their
supervised legal entities.
· Strengthen controls in public and
private investment cases funded either by national or co-funded by other
sources, public works and public procurement (e.g. in health sector, SDIT).
· Strengthen transparency and control
processes and skills in tax and customs authorities.
·
Assess
major risks in the public procurement cycle, taking in consideration the recent
developments (Central Purchasing and e-Procurement: KHMDHS and ESHDHS) and the
need to have a clear governance framework. Develop strategy according to the
assessment(Q4 2015)
·
Implement
strategy to mitigate public procurement risks.(Q1 2016)
·
Assess
2 specific sectors, Health and Public Works in order to understand the existing
constrains related to corruption and waste risks and propose measures to
address them. Develop and implement strategy. (Q4 2015)
6. Tax administration
Take the following actions to:
· Adopt legislation to establish an
autonomous revenue agency, that specifies: (i) the agency’s legal form,
organization, status, and scope; (ii) the powers and functions of the CEO and
the independent Board of Governors; (iii) the relationship to the Minister of
Finance and other government entities; (iv) the agency’s human resource
flexibility and relationship to the civil service; (v) budget autonomy, with
own GDFS and a new funding formula to align incentives with revenue collection
and guarantee budget predictability and flexibility; (vi) reporting to the
government and parliament; and (vii) the immediate transfer of all tax- and
customs-related capacities and duties and all tax- and customs-related staff in
SDOE and other entities to the agency.
· on garnishments, adopt legislation
to eliminate the 25 percent ceiling on wages and pensions and lower all
thresholds of €1,500 while ensuring in all cases reasonable living conditions;
accelerate procurement of IT infrastructure to automatize e-garnishment;
improve tax debt write-off rules; remove tax officers’ personal liabilities for
not pursuing old debt; remove restrictions on conducting audits of tax returns
from 2012 subject to the external tax certificate scheme; and enforce if
legally possible upfront payment collection in tax disputes.
· amend (i) the 2014–15 tax and SSC
debt instalment schemes to exclude those who fail to pay current obligations
and introduce a requirement for the tax and social security administrations to
shorten the duration for those with the capacity to pay earlier and introduce
market-based interest rates; the LDU and KEAO will assess by September 2015 the
large debtors with tax and SSC debt exceeding €1 million (e.g. verify their
capacity to pay and take corrective action) and (ii) the basic instalment scheme/TPC
to adjust the market-based interest rates and suspend until end-2017
third-party verification and bank guarantee requirements.
· adopt legislation to accelerate
de-registration procedures and limit VAT re-registration to protect VAT
revenues and accelerate procurement of network analysis software; and provide
the Presidential Decree needed for the significantly strengthening the
reorganisation of the VAT enforcement section in order to strengthen VAT
enforcement and combat VAT carousel fraud. The authorities will submit an
application to the EU VAT Committee and prepare an assessment of the
implication of an increase in the VAT threshold to €25.000.
· combat fuel smuggling, via
legislative measures for locating storage tanks (fixed or mobile);
· Produce a comprehensive plan with
technical assistance for combating tax evasion which includes (i)
identification of undeclared deposits by checking bank transactions in banking
institutions in Greece or abroad, (ii) introduction of a voluntary disclosure program with
appropriate sanctions, incentives and verification procedures, consistent with
international best practice, and without any amnesty provisions (iii) request
from EU member states to provide data on asset ownership and acquisition by
Greek citizens, (iv) renew the request for technical assistance in tax
administration and make full use of the resource in capacity building, (v)
establish a wealth registry to improve monitoring.
· develop a costed plan for the
promotion of the use of electronic payments, making use of the EU Structural
and Investment Fund;
· Create a time series database to
monitor the balance sheets of parent-subsisdiary companies to improve risk
analysis criteria for transfer pricing
7. Financial sector
Adopt: (i) amendments to the corporate and household insolvency laws
including to cover all debtors and bring the corporate insolvency law in line
with the OCW law; (ii) amendments to the household insolvency law to introduce
a mechanism to separate strategic defaulters from good faith debtors as well as
simplify and strengthen the procedures and introduce measures to address the
large backlog of cases; (iii) amendments to improve immediately the judicial
framework for corporate and household insolvency matters; (iv) legislation to
establish a regulated profession of insolvency administrators, not restricted
to any specific profession and in line with good cross-country experience; (v)
a comprehensive strategy for the financial system: this strategy will build on
the strategy document from 2013, taking into account the new environment and
conditions of the financial system and with a view of returning the banks in
private ownership by attracting international strategic investors and to
achieve a sustainable funding model over the medium term; and (vi) a holistic
NPL resolution strategy, prepared with the help of a strategic consultant.
8. Labour market
Launch a consultation process to review the whole range of existing
labour market arrangements, taking into account best practices elsewhere in
Europe. Further input to the consultation process described above will be
provided by international organisations, including the ILO. The organization
and timelines shall be drawn up in consultation with the institutions. In this
context, legislation on a new system of collective bargaining should be ready
by Q4 2015. The authorities will take actions to fight undeclared work in order
to strengthen the competitiveness of legal companies and protect workers as
well as tax and social security revenues.
9. Product market
Adopt legislation to:
· implement all pending recommendations of the OECD
competition toolkit I, except OTC pharmaceutical products, starting with: tourist buses, truck licenses,
code of conduct for traditional foodstuff, eurocodes on building materials, and
all the OECD toolkit II recommendations on beverages and petroleum products;
· In order to foster competition and
increase consumer welfare immediately launch a new competition assessment, in
collaboration and with the technical support of the OECD, on wholesale trade, construction,
e-commerce and media. The assessment will be concluded by Q1 2016.The
recommendations will be adopted by Q2 2016.
· open the restricted professions of engineers,
notaries, actuaries, and bailiffs and liberalize the market for tourist rentals
;
· eliminate non-reciprocal nuisance
charges and align the reciprocal nuisance charges to the services provided;
· reduce red tape, including on
horizontal licensing requirements of investments and on low-risk activities as
recommended by the World Bank, and administrative burden of companies based on
the OECD recommendations, and (ii) establish a committee for the
inter-ministerial preparation of legislation. Technical assistance of the World
Bank will be sought to implement the easing of licensing requirements.
· design electronic one-stop shops for
businesses through analysing information obligations businesses have to comply
with, structuring them accordingly and helping to design a project on
developing the necessary ICT tools and infrastructure (Q3 2015). Setting up the
institutional & co-ordination structure, identification of the business
life events to be included, identification and mapping of information
obligations & administrative procedures and training of officials (Q4
2015). Launch (Q1 2016)
· adopt the reform of the gas market
and its specific roadmap, and implementation should follow suit.
· take irreversible steps (including
announcement of date for submission of binding offers) to privatize the electricity
transmission company, ADMIE, or provide by October 2015 an alternative scheme, with
equivalent results in terms of competition, in line with the best European
practices to provide full ownership unbundling from PPC, while ensuring independence.
On electricity markets, the authorities will reform the capacity
payments system and other electricity market rules to avoid that some plants
are forced to operate below their variable cost, and to prevent the netting of
the arrears between PPC and market operator; set PPC tariffs based on costs,
including replacement of the 20% discount for HV users with cost based tariffs;
and notify NOME products to the European Commission. The authorities will also
continue the implementation of the roadmap to the EU target model prepare a new
framework for the support of renewable energies and for the implementation of
energy efficiency and review energy taxation; the authorities will strengthen
the electricity regulator’s financial and operational independence;
10. Privatization
· The Board of Directors of the
Hellenic Republic Asset Development Fund will approve its Asset Development
Plan which will include for privatisation all the assets under HRDAF as of
31/12/2014; and the Cabinet will endorse the plan.
· To facilitate the completion of the
tenders, the authorities will complete all government pending actions including
those needed for the regional airports, TRAINOSE, Egnatia, the ports of Pireaus
and Thessaloniki and Hellinikon (precise list in Technical Memorandum). This
list of actions is updated regularly and the Government will ensure that all
pending actions are timely implemented.
· The government and HRADF will
announce binding bid dates for Piraeus and Thessaloniki ports of no later than
end-October 2015, and for TRAINOSE ROSCO, with no material changes in the terms
of the tenders.
· The government will transfer the
state's shares in OTE to the HRADF.
· Take irreversible steps for the sale
of the regional airports at the current terms with the winning bidder already
selected.
[1] The fiscal path to reach the
medium term primary surplus target of 3.5% will be discussed with the
institutions, in light of recent economic developments.