Finance ministry drafts legislation to promote use of plastic money
The new legislation, drafted by the team of Alternate Finance Minister Tryfon Alexiadis, envisages that each taxpayer must spend using credit/debit cards up to 10-30 pct of its income in order to enjoy a tax discount.
More analytically, for annual income up to 10,000 euros a 10 pct spending using plastic money should be required, for income up to 20,000 euros a 15 pct, for income up to 40,000 euros a 20 pct and for higher incomes a 30 pct. The draft bill could also envisage offering additional incentives to promote e-payments, such as lotteries with state property assets as prize, cash returns, etc.
The draft legislation will also envisage that professionals and enterprises must offer e-payment options to consumers (a gradual transition will be envisaged giving priority to sectors of high tax evasion risk). Also, creating a price observatory for charges imposed by banks on the use of plastic money and an obligatory identification of citizens using e-payment means to avoid phenomena of legalizing money from criminal activities.