The main problem of the Greek economy was and is the issue of large volumes owed to the IRS, insurance funds and from the State to the citizens. At best, this debt is regulated, at worst the repayment of dues is transferred to… calls. The image is embossed by the quarterly report of the Parliament Budget Office, published on Monday (1.4.2024). Thus, with regard to debts to the IRS, although debtors fell by 99,985 persons (of course and legally) compared to last year, 9,380 debtors from 3,931,625 owe a total of 77% of total outstanding debts or nearly EUR 82,258 billion. Of these only 5.8% of the actual outstanding balance has been settled, i.e. EUR 4.7 billion with the highest percentage of total regulated debts, 23.8%, being found in debtors who owe between EUR 500 and 10,000, i.e. in small sums. A rate of 24.6% of the outstanding balance, at 26.3 billion euros, represents debts deemed to be irreachable. Although the reduction in the total number of debtors mainly reflects a downward trend concerning small categories, things are different the higher we go. According to the Office’s Report, in respect of debts of more than EUR 1 million, at the end of January 2024, EUR 57 billion reached the end of January 2024 with 61.2% of debtors consisting of legal and not natural persons, found by majority in the lowest categories of debt. As regards the outstanding debts of the insured persons at the end of December 2023, they increased by EUR 385 million to EUR 47,6 billion, mainly due to the increase in additional fees by EUR 403,4 million, while the main debts decreased by EUR 18,4 million. On an annual basis, the number of debtor registers was reduced by 59,168, dropping at the end of 2023 to 2,267,625. On the other hand, total debts increased by around EUR 1.9 billion compared to last year, mainly due to an increase in principal debts by EUR 285.8 million, and additional fees by EUR 1.6 billion. Finally, according to the figures in the Report the public-private liabilities due in January increased by EUR 249 million on an annual basis, with the outstanding debts increasing by EUR 352 million, reaching EUR 2,409 billion, while the outstanding tax returns dropped by EUR 103 million by EUR 448 million.
Depreciated debts: ‘Gun’ debt by taxpayers, insured persons and public sector
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