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Harris Georgiades

Georgiades on Income Tax: Reductions May be Made

The income tax currently imposed in Cyprus may decline in the coming year, should the state public finances allow this. So said Minister of Finance Harris Georgiades, addressing a recent press event. Indeed, Special Defence Tax on interest income – currently set at 30% – may be reduced in the context of the country's ongoing economic recovery and modest return to growth. Citizens should not expect a return to the pre-bailout tax levels of 10%, Georgiades clarified. Interest income tax, called Special Contribution for Defence was raised to 30% in March 2013 as part of the conditions for the island's €10 billion bailout. «I don`t see that interest rate income returning – I don`t think it will go back to 10%, but perhaps at some stage we could reduce to the EU average level of 20%,» he said. The Finance Ministry predicts that the rate of Cypriot GDP growth will reach 1.5% by the end of 2015, a great improvement on international lenders' forecasts of 0.5%. «The exit from recession and the return to growth rates marks the achievement of the most significant target set for the current period,» Georgiades noted, adding that the country's return to the international capital markets would allow the island to exit its economic adjustment programme earlier than anticipated, thus allowing reductions in income tax and more. There is, however, no room for complacency, he stressed, or the return to practises which «derailed the economy in the first place.»

19:01 - 15 Οκτωβριου 2015

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