Marinakis: You cannot have 71% of freelancers declare lower income than their employees on minimum wage

The draft bill changing tax regulations does not relate to freelancers or independent business owners alone but to all of society and aims to deal with tax evasion better, government spokesperson Pavlos Marinakis told MEGA TV’s ‘Mega Savvatokyriako’ show on Sunday.

Referring to freelancers, Marinakis said, “We must all admit that it is not possible for 1 out of 2 freelancers to declare only losses and 71% of them to declare below minimum wage” as income on their annual income tax declarations. “Is everyone in this 71% a tax evader? No, neither are the remaining 29%,” he added.

Referring to the tax bill that has been posted for public consultation, the spokesperson said the main purpose is “to have a final form of the draft bill, without injustices. I think we agree and understand that the zero-tax policy of the opposition can only damage Greece’s economy and of citizens’ as well. Does the opposition and those opposing the bill believe that someone who owns a business with 10 employees – receiving minimum wage – could have a lower income than his employees? That is what this bill tries to resolve.”

Among other issues, Marinakis said a draft bill on legalizing marriages between homosexual couples will be announced at the right time by the prime minister, while to another answer about the main opposition’s state of affairs, he said that “what we are seeing happening (there) is not the cause, it is the result.”

The cause, he said, was that while the government tried to resolve crises, the main opposition said ‘No’ to everything. The public “requests more of us, but recognizes the effort, and saw in action that rallies without demands, or building takeovers, or banners and mottos, or how many years one has been a member of the left […], all of these never resolved an issue.”