President calls for acceleration of tax reform

President, Nikos Christodoulides has asked the Advisory Committee for Tax Reform to speed up the completion of the reform after being briefed on the progress of the project.

In statements after the 28 March meeting, Minister of Finance, Makis Keravnos expressed the government's satisfaction as the project is progressing as planned.

The aim of this tax reform, he said, is "to encourage entrepreneurship, to provide relief to households, to have a strong social element and to contribute to the equal distribution of income". He also added that the tax reform aims to tackle any tax evasion and tax avoidance and will be fiscally neutral.

"We have asked the University of Cyprus to step up the pace as much as possible to get the results as soon as possible," he said.

Economist George Syrichas, on behalf of the Economics Research Centre (ERC) of the University of Cyprus, which has undertaken to carry out the complete tax reform, said that the President was informed about the progress of the project and the next steps.

He said that the first six phases of the tax reform have almost been completed, while extensive consultations with various stakeholders of the Cypriot economy have taken and continue to take place.

"The President shared with us how he sees the tax reform and said that he expects it to contribute to the competitiveness of the Cypriot economy, to be an investment-friendly system. The President said that he expects the tax reform to maintain social cohesion and if possible to reduce inequalities as well", Syrichas said, noting that "we assured the President that the parameters he has already given us are included in the tax reform".

Syrichas also said that the President asked "that we accelerate the tax reform as much as possible and complete our work as early as possible, because he attaches great importance to this work" and added that "we will try to bring it as far forward as possible" in order to allow for more consultation with both organised groups and citizens.

(Source: CNA)