By decision of the Plenary of the presidents of the Bar Associations of Greece
The lawyers go into nationwide abstinence, but also a protest rally for the tax bill according to a decision of the Plenary of the presidents of Lawyers Associations of Greece, which met in Athens.
In more detail, by the Plenary, among others, it was decided, the abstention of lawyers from trials of public interests (Public, NPDD, wider public sector) until the passing of the bill, general abstention from all trials on 16 and 17/11/2023 and 21 and 22/11/2023, abstention from all trials during the process of passing the measures in Parliament, abstention from issuing payment orders from loans with applicant Banks and debt management companies as well as from orders to be executed, in view of the filing of a bill for the funds and until the passing of the bill, abstaining from the committees where lawyers participate as members (SYPOTHA, Forestry Maps, cadastral dispute objections, Registry of Legal Advisers of Cadastre, etc.), protest march and the gathering outside the Ministry of Finance on the 22nd /11/2023 and creation of a united front with all scientific and professional bodies with the aim of withdrawing the announced tax measures.
Specifically, the Plenary in its announcement states:
“The Plenary of the Presidents of the Bar Associations of Greece, which held an extraordinary meeting yesterday (11.11.2023) in Athens, on the occasion of the government announcements on the new tax measures, issued the following announcement:
With the new tax measures, the Government is not fighting tax evasion. It protects the few, the high incomes, at the expense of the many.
With the introduction of taxable presumptive income, i.e. with the taxation of income that has not been acquired, a large part of independent professionals and scientists is led to extinction. Instead of the Government supporting us, it is giving us a free shot. It adopts horizontal and unfair measures and chooses the leveling practice “better few than many than many of few”.
The Government shows that it ignores the reality experienced by the majority of freelancers, scientists and small and medium-sized businesses, after more than ten years of economic and social crisis, due to memoranda, pandemic, energy crisis and inflation.
The Government ignores the data it has and which prove that a significant part of the freelancers is unable to meet basic obligations and has significant debts to the State, Banks, and Insurance Funds. According to the data of the EFKA, 33% of lawyers are in debt settlement, while a particularly large number have lost, due to weakness, the arrangements they had entered into and are facing stalking measures. It should be noted that 12,977 lawyers share their professional activity with their residence, due to their inability to cover their professional expenses.
The Government, in order to support its choice, characterizes all freelancers, indiscriminately, arrested, as tax evaders and transfers the logic of the “Katrougalos Law” to taxation, without forgetting of course the recent exorbitant increase in insurance contributions, which itself the Government imposed.
At the same time, he tries to identify the self-employed with the employees, while he knows that these are different categories, as the SC has judged (decisions 1880 and 1888/2019), and the self-employed do not have tax-free income nor the discounts and exemptions of employees. And at the same time, to determine the presumptive taxable income, not the net taxable salary of the employee, but the gross salary, including insurance contributions, is used.
Furthermore, the presumptive taxable income is increased on the one hand based on the time of practicing the profession and on the other hand cumulatively based on the annual payroll cost and based on a rate when the annual turnover is greater than the average of the annual turnover of KAD. The latter has the effect of not recognizing incurred business expenses, a measure profoundly anti-development and enhancing tax evasion.
The claim that the evidence is rebuttable is pretentious and does not stand up to criticism, since any attempt to dispute it, judicially or administratively, becomes in practice, as has already been proven, in the past, in the vast majority of cases, futile and furthermore because it concerns only cases of pregnancy, illness and military service.
The Government is deploying anachronistic, unfair and leveling methods of combating tax evasion that belong to past decades, at the same time as it boasts that it has new control tools at its disposal (indirect control techniques, mydata, connection of cash registers with the Ministry of Finance, installation of POS, etc.), thereby admitting their complete failure.
In fact, the new presumptive income comes to be added to two other already existing presumptions: the presumption of living and the professional fee. The cumulative application of three (!) presumptions results in taxation no longer having anything to do with tax-paying capacity in violation of the basic constitutional imperative. The attached table shows examples of taxation of lawyers under the new system, showing their increased taxation.
For the lawyers, the new tax measures and even without any previous dialogue are the last straw of anger and indignation.
They come to be added in particular to the government’s indifference to the support of the legal profession, during the period of the pandemic, to the increase in insurance contributions, to the abolition of mandatory representation in contracts, to the non-reduction of VAT on judicial services, to the non-extension of the exemption from VAT for incomes up to 25,000 euros, the only memorandum obligation that was not implemented – for the exemption limit, it must be explicitly clarified that it is not affected by the presumptive taxable income -, in the delays in payment of Legal Aid compensations, in the deregulation of lawyers’ fees in the private sector , law offices and law firms, in depreciating the fees of salaried lawyers, in the non-renewal of the OAED account, in the non-abolition of the professional fee.
The Government blatantly ignores the fact that lawyers are the only category of independent professionals and scientists who advance tax, insurance contributions and VAT for their remuneration, through advance collection letters. As an example, we mention that for the year 2022 the lawyers advanced an amount of 30,040,525 euros for tax, an amount of 42,391,509 euros for insurance contributions and an amount of 48,908,146 euros for corresponding VAT.
The class-based and simultaneously toxic targeting of small and medium incomes, which are the backbone of the national economy, becomes even more evident if we consider the unfavorable treatment of the self-employed compared to companies: Although the great majority of companies in Greece are loss-making, even subject to more favorable tax laws rates against individual businesses, no government officials were concerned about how these companies survive by leaving unfired, as well as the large tax evasion on fuel, dividends, capital raising. On the contrary, only the self-employed are required, immediately, to show profitability and especially on an annual basis.
The fight against tax evasion presupposes a substantial dialogue between all entities with the aim of a fair tax system, which will take into account the real conditions of development of the Greek economy and the particularities of each profession and will be based on the contribution of each according to their strengths.
For us lawyers, it is primarily a question of dignity. And therefore, a non-negotiable issue. Because without decent lawyers, co-workers of Justice, there is no independent Justice and effective exercise of citizens’ right to judicial protection.
We have the obligation to stand by every colleague and also every citizen who is affected by the Government’s choices who is at risk of professional annihilation who is targeted in general, indiscriminately as a tax evader.
Our response will be strong, institutional, massive, sustained and targeted.
The Plenary expresses its strong reaction to the tax measures announced, requests their immediate withdrawal and claims the implementation of the decisions of the Plenary to support the profession, specifically:
* Increasing the VAT exemption limit for incomes up to 25,000 euros
* Reduction of judicial VAT
* Remove the pretentious fee
* Reinstatement of mandatory representation in contracts
* Establishment of a mandatory certificate of legality by lawyers in all legal transactions in rem
* Abolition of the unemployment contribution of 120 euros in favor of OAED
* Increase in the fees of the State’s salaried lawyers
* Re-evaluation of the reference amount of advance collection letters
In this context, the Plenary decided to propose to the Boards of Directors of the Bar Associations of the Country:
1. The abstention of their members from lawsuits involving the interests of the State (State, NPDD, wider public sector as determined by Law 4270/2014) until the passage of the Bill.
2. The abstention of their members from all trials on 16 and 17/11/2023 and 21 and 22/11/2023.
3. The abstention of their members from all trials during the process of passing the measures in the Parliament.
4. The abstention of their members from issuing payment orders from loans with applicant Banks and receivables management companies as well as from orders to be executed, in view of the filing of the bill for the funds and until the passing of the bill, taking into account the standing position of the Plenary on the protection of economically weak and vulnerable citizens.
The context of abstinence under items 1, 2, 3 and 4 will not be the one existing until now in cases of abstinence, but much stricter and will be determined by a decision of the Coordinating Committee.
5. The abstention of their members from the committees where lawyers participate as members (SYPOTHA, Forest Maps,
Land dispute objections, Register of Land Registry Legal Advisers, etc.)
6. The participation in the protest march and the gathering outside the Ministry of Finance on 22/11/2023 at 13:00.
7. The creation of a united front with all scientific and professional bodies in order to withdraw the announced tax measures.
8. The greatest possible publicity of the positions of the bar both at central and regional level. The creation of a spot, which will be shown on TV and the internet and a paid entry in Sunday publications.
9. Sending letters to all MPs in order to publicly position themselves on the matter.
10. New meeting of the Plenary on 25.11.2023 in Athens to review the progress of the mobilizations”.
