Greece's 500 richest families may face special levy

[BERLIN] The Greek government has suggested imposing a special levy on the country's 500 richest families to help unlock bailout aid, German newspaper Bild said on Wednesday, citing a new list of reforms that Athens has submitted to the Eurogroup.

Greece has been locked in talks with the European Union and International Monetary Fund for weeks in a bid to secure aid in return for reforms, but the talks have failed to produce significant progress, leaving Greece on the verge of bankruptcy.

The Greek finance ministry's reform list includes increasing a tax that workers who earn more than 30,000 euros (S$44,700) a year have to pay and raising a luxury tax on items such as expensive cars, Bild said in an advance copy of an article due to be published in Wednesday's newspaper.

The report said Athens had also proposed introducing a tax on luxury trips to Greek holiday islands and standardising sales tax rates.

To improve honesty in tax matters, Athens is planning to only allow people to use a bank debit card for payments of more than 70 euros so that there is a record of the transactions, the newspaper said.

REUTERS