Greeks to see no tax relief until budget improves , PM says Ireland a model for ending crisis
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Greece's conservative-led government can't lower taxes before the public deficit falls further, the prime minister said Thursday, but he pledged to eventually slash the corporate tax rate to a flat 15 percent.
Antonis Samaras made the promise at a meeting in Athens with Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny, whose country holds the European Union's rotating presidency.
Greece has imposed a series of emergency taxes and spending cuts in exchange for international bailout loans, but the measures hurt economic growth and caused a surge in unemployment and poverty.
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Samaras described Ireland as a model for Greece in repairing its public finances.
"We will follow the exactly the same successful example set by Ireland — both for the EU presidency and an exit from the crisis," Samaras said.
"It has been my stated aim for years now that I want a unified rate, a flat-rate tax of 15 percent. As we reach our targets that moment draws closer."
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Corporate profits are currently taxed at a minimum of 26 percent.
Kenny called his fellow conservative as "a voice of reality and a voice of progress" in Europe, and repeated his assurance that Ireland would complete its bailout program by the end of the year.
Greece's program end in 2016.
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Later Thursday, about 10,000 people joined a peaceful protest march in central Athens to demand the renewal of collective labor agreements that expire this year. Rescue lenders want the government to set a minimum wage across labor categories — effectively canceling the existing practice of negotiated collective pay agreements between unions and employers for different sectors of the economy.
Greece's minimum wage was cut last year to 684 euros ($880) per month, according to figures kept by the EU statistics agency, Eurostat.