ENFIA row rumbles on after charity hit with big tax bill

The row over the troublesome unified property tax (ENFIA) continued on Thursday as coalition partner PASOK said that children’s charity Smile of the Child was incorrectly asked to pay the levy.

PASOK said the Finance Ministry had made a mistake in sending a bill to the charity after its president, Costas Giannopoulos, revealed that its property tax bill came to almost 95,000 euros.

“We cannot pay such an amount,” Giannopoulos told ANT1 TV. “We are going through a tough time because we have to help more children. In the first half of this year we supported 57,000 kids. The state is faceless and does not help institutions.”

ENFIA has been the cause of a row between New Democracy and PASOK. Conservative officials argue its failures are a result of the emergency property tax designed by PASOK leader Evangelos Venizelos when he was finance minister. PASOK argued that the previous tax, levied through electricity bills, was fairer.