Greece feeds economic recovery with tax law to lure investors
Mitsotakis government seeks foreign capital from new residents in prosperity drive…
Not so long ago, the idea of Greece announcing tax relief measures to entice the global rich would have been regarded as a joke. With the EU’s weakest economy and a leftist government that has been in power for just three months, the world’s wealthy were keen to keep their distance.
But in a marked departure of policy, the centre-right administration led by Kyriakos Mitsotakis has offered an array of incentives to attract the rich.
On Thursday, the government unveiled legislation that included the introduction of a flat tax of €100,000 on global earnings. The quid pro quo? Investors would have to move their tax residence to the country.
The measure is the latest move by the pro -business government to boost growth. After nearly a decade of austerity-driven recession – the price of three successive bailouts on the frontline of the euro debt crisis – Greece, said Mitsotakis, a former banker, was in need of investment if regeneration was to take hold.
During a visit to Shanghai last week, Mitsotakis told the Chinese president, Xi Jinping: “Today in Greece there is a government that is determined to facilitate foreign investors, attract foreign capital and create wealth and prosperity for all Greeks in a way that is sustainable and protects the environment.”