Greece ranks 30th overall on the 2019 International Tax Competitiveness Index, one place better than in 2018.

Some strengths of the Greek tax system:

• The personal tax rate of 15 percent on dividends is below the OECD average of 23.8 percent.
• Labor tax complexity is below the OECD average.
• Controlled Foreign Corporation rules in Greece are modest and only apply to passive income.

Some weaknesses of the Greek tax system:

• Greece has an above-average corporate tax rate of 28 percent (OECD average is 23.6 percent).
• Companies are severely limited in the amount of net operating losses they can use to offset futureprofits, and companies cannot use losses to reduce past taxable income.
• At 24 percent, Greece has one of the highest VAT rates in the OECD on one of the narrowest bases.

For the sixth consecutive year, the country with the highest rated tax code in the OECD is Estonia, with France taking the last position.

KEFiM’s Executive Director Nicos Rompapas made the following statement: “Our country’s disappointing ranking in this year’s International Tax Competitiveness Index, at 30th out of the 36 OECD countries, shows that we have a long way to go in order to achieve a friendlier to entrepreneurship, employment and household income tax system. At KEFiM we believe that this Index, both in terms of overall ranking and its sub-categories, can serve as a compass for targeted tax relief measures which will guarantee positive results for the economy and society.“

It is noted that Tax Foundation has estimated that the implementation of the tax policy proposal presented by KEFiM in the framework of the Greece 2021: Agenda for prosperity and freedom would result in our country ranking 11th out of 36 OECD countries.

This year’s Index uses the most recent data available in July 2019.

Learn more about Tax Foundation on their website.

Find the complete International Tax Competitiveness Index 2019 study here.

The Index in Greece is released by KEFiM – Markos Dragoumis.