Tsipras in the pink pages

And the Syriza leader is talking tax, ahead of Greece’s weekend election.

The people of Greece want to replace the failed old memorandum of understanding (as signed in March with the EU and International Monetary Fund) with a “national plan for reconstruction and growth”…

The systemic fiscal problems of Greece are, in large part, a problem of low public revenues…

Under our plan for reconstruction and growth, we are committed to following a programme of pragmatic and socially just fiscal stabilisation. The structure of this programme consists of: stabilising public expenditure at approximately 44 per cent of GDP and reorientating this expenditure to ensure it is well spent; increasing revenues from direct taxation to the average European levels (by more than 4 per cent of GDP) over a four-year period; and reforming the tax regime so as to identify the wealth and income of all citizens, and to distribute equitably the burden of taxation.

Some numbers for background…

According to Eurostat, Greek tax revenue was 33.2 per cent of GDP in 2010, the last year for which figures are available. The average for all 27 European Union countries was 39.6 per cent; for all 17 eurozone states, 40.2 per cent. We’d note four years is a bit longer than the current time frame for the present MoU to end.

Anyway — Tsipras:

Arthur Miller once wrote that “an era can be said to end when its basic illusions are exhausted”. The basic illusion of good Greek government under the old regime of a two-party system has been exhausted. It is now totally incapable of ensuring our country’s return to growth and full participation in the eurozone. This Sunday we will bring Greece into a new era of growth and prosperity.

The new era begins on Monday.

Related link:
Greece – don’t call it a backtrack… - FT Alphaville