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The number of Greeks filing and paying their taxes shot up sharply in the wake of Sunday’s contentious elections .
In the week before the election, the number of filings averaged roughly 49,000 per day, never reaching 50,000, according to a source in the tax collection office. However, on Monday, 53,000 Greeks filed their taxes and on Tuesday, nearly 58,000 paid (57,998 to be exact) representing a rise of more than 18 percent compared to last week.
Within the tax collection office, the rise in filings is attributed to the election outcome; many believed that leftist opposition leader Alexis Tsipras, the leader of Syriza, would rescind recent tax hikes if he won the election. Instead, Antonis Samaras, leader of New Democracy, took first place and is in the process of forming a government .
Working Greeks’ collective tax bill will be 5 times higher this year compared with last year. The tax collection office expects to send out tax bills for 5 billion euros, while last year they sent out bills for only 1 billion euros. (Five-point-five million filings are expected this year, down from 5.6 million last year.)
The dramatic increase in the nation's tax bill is due not only to higher tax rates, but also a sharp drop in the threshold income-level for paying taxes.
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