The government has left the Cypriot people at the mercy of crushing price increases
20 August 2022, AKEL C.C. Press Office, Nicosia
While the German government is announcing a reduction in VAT from 19% to 7% by March 2024, the government of the ruling DISY party here in Cyprus is insisting that the EU does not permit a general reduction in VAT. At the same time, the government is blocking, through referrals, the reduction of VAT on fuel and electricity that has been passed by the Parliament. Every day it is being confirmed that the government has given in and is leaving the Cypriot people at the mercy of price increases that are devastating.
- When did the government assert to secure regulations at an EU level to reduce the price of electricity in Cyprus, given the specific conditions of our country?
- Where is the government’s plan to channel the hundreds of millions of euros that have flowed into the state coffers through VAT revenues due to the ongoing price increases? Where else, if not to society that is being crushed by price increases, should the government’s windfall revenues be channeled towards?
- Why does the government continue to reject AKEL’s proposal for taxing the huge profits of energy companies, something that other countries have already decided to do?
When it comes to measures to provide relief to workers, households and vulnerable groups, the government finds and invents all kinds of excuses, invokes legal terms and engages in inaccuracies so as to avoid approving them. However, when it comes to banks and big business, the government ruling forces find solutions and ways overnight.
