The government is also proceeding to an overall tax reform; the proposals of an experts’ Commission were made public earlier this month; after public discussion, the government will make its decisions in the summer and new provisions will take effect as of January 2003.
The tax reform is expected not only to improve the efficiency of the Greek economy, but also to reduce the administrative costs of collecting taxes and the compliance costs for the taxpayers. The challenge now is to broaden and deepen the efforts undertaken to date to strengthen competition and efficiency in factor and product markets, efforts which are essential to ensure real convergence.