Αρχική Διάλογος για ένα Δίκαιο και Aποτελεσματικό φορολογικό σύστημαΓενικότερα ποιες προτάσεις ή σχόλια πέραν των ανωτέρω θα θέλατε να υποβάλλετε ώστε να ληφθούν υπόψη κατά τη μεταρρύθμιση του φορολογικού συστήματος;Σχόλιο του χρήστη Cleo Kalemkeris | 12 Ιανουαρίου 2010, 11:51
  • Σχόλιο του χρήστη 'Cleo Kalemkeris' | 12 Ιανουαρίου 2010, 11:51

    Dear sirs, I would like to bring your attention to a situation that probably you are not aware of. My family moved from the United States to Greece almost three years ago. My hunsband was a university professor while in the United States for almost twenty years. Currently he is a professor at the Polytechnic University in Crete. Given the fact that we have two daughters aged 17 and 15 and that they were brought up in the American system we had no choice but to enroll them in an english speaking school. Unfortunatelly there is no english speaking school in Chania, therefore we were forced to live in Athens. My husband commutes and since he lives in Chania most of the week (he does stay there from Monday until Friday) he rents a house. Furthermore, we rent a house in Athens so that we will be closer to our daughters' school. We do own a house in Athens which we rent out. The problems that we face are the following: a) My husband's payment is 1/3 of what it was in the U.S. We knew that but we feel is unfair that the basic salary is so low. The rest are "epidomata". Why don't you include those and provide them with a set salary (let alone the fact that it is a humiliating salary as it is.) My husband does not keep an office on the outside as it happens with his collegues in Athens and Thessaloniki to supplement the income. b) The salary is represents 20 hours of work (roughly two and a half days of work.) Since we do have an american mentallity my husband stays in his office five days a week (let alone the hours he works at home) since he is very active in research. c) In terms of taxes, we are taxed on a ficticious income. Unfortunately we realize now why people in the U.S. do not try to cheat I.R.S. It is realy simple. The taxes are fair. In the U.S. a taxpayer is taxed on his actual net income after expenses. For example, here we are taxed on my husband's income from the university plus the rent we receive. The deductions we can claim are only 3,000 euros. 1,000 for each child and the rest for the rent we pay. Do you now many houses that the rent is 1,000 per year? So, basically we are taxed for money we never see. d) While in the U.S. we acquire some rental property. All expenses for these were tax deductible. Thus, promoting businesses and investments. e) Private classes and electricians, plumbers etc. were operating the same in the U.S. as they are here, meaning that noone claims them but these represent a tiny fraction of the economy. Do you know many private tutors that declare this income? Even if we want to declare it, how much is it going to be deducted? Is it worth it? In short, please come up with a really fair system and only then people will stop evading taxes. I hope that someone will read this because most of the TV people (journalists, politicians etc.) give opinions on what happens in other countries but sadly they know nothing about it and they only embarass themselves. Thank you for the opportunity and I wish you a productive New Year, Cleo Kalemkeris