On Wednesday, Gavriil Sakellaridis—a Greek economist, politician, and current secretary of the Central Committee of Greece’s New Left party, who previously served as deputy minister to the prime minister and government spokesperson under Alexis Tsipras—ignited debate by revealing that a single tax provision quietly cost the Greek state €1.26 billion over the past five years. He argues that this money was effectively handed to major business groups and investment funds under the banner of “development.”
Sakellaridis traces the issue back to December 2019, when the newly elected Mitsotakis government introduced a sweeping tax bill billed as pro-growth. Buried inside it was Article 20 of Law 4646/2019, which amended existing legislation to exempt Greek-based companies from paying tax on capital gains from selling significant shareholdings. Under the rule, if a company owned more than 10 percent of another business and held those shares for at least two years, any profit from selling them would be entirely tax-free.
What seemed like a technical legislative detail has had major fiscal implications. Annual Tax Expenditure Reports—official documents that track how much revenue the state forfeits through tax breaks—show a sharp escalation in costs linked to this exemption, ultimately reaching €1.26 billion between 2020 and 2024.
Sakellaridis argues that these lost revenues could have funded substantial social measures, from a thirteenth monthly pension to stronger public healthcare, education, and infrastructure. Yet, he notes, the government maintains it cannot reduce indirect taxes or adjust income-tax brackets for workers struggling with inflation, even as it granted what he sees as a significant financial advantage to large corporations and investment funds—far from Greece’s small-business sector.
He concludes that Greece urgently needs a broader debate on what a fair tax system should look like. Ending what he describes as unjustifiable exemptions and increasing taxation on corporate profits, dividends, and concentrated wealth, he argues, is essential for any serious discussion of social justice.
