Just four days ago I wrote about how a controversial new indirect taxation would affect thousands of .GR domains and their cash-starved operators; most of them Greek entrepreneurs operating portals, news web sites and forums.
That indirect taxation – called “aggeliosimo” – was meant to be an extension of the current taxation implemented onto press (magazine, newspapers) radio and television advertising.
The good news is, that by some unexplained reasoning that particular article was removed from the massive law up for voting this week at the Greek parliament.
Therefore, aggeliosimo no longer applies to Internet advertising.
Surely the backlash was enough for the law-drafting pencil pushers to realize that the introduction of the aggeliosimo tax was not only unethical, but also impractical to collect: Good luck with collecting that 21.5% aggeliosimo from Google Adwords advertisers.
It’s unfortunate that a lot of things in Greece are done under pressure and without much planning, when it comes down to technological progress. This is a lesson in provisioning laws according to their impact to society and business, not simply to collect a few “drachmas” here and there.
Good news for all the Greek Internet entrepreneurs. At least for now…
Haha, true 🙂 Never underestimate the ingenuity of law drafters – their mascot should be Odysseas.