Greece's deficit still growing after tax moves

Greece's budget deficit continued to expand in September due to an austerity-driven recession, despite a fresh batch of tax measures that were supposed to start increasing revenue. 

The central government deficit grew 15 percent to 19.16 billion euros in the first nine months of the year, finance ministry data showed.  

Debt-laden Greece is scrambling to meet fiscal targets set by its international lenders under a bailout plan so that it can continue to receive EU/IMF funding and avoid default.           

In September, Athens increased sales tax on restaurants to 23 percent and started collecting a one-off tax ranging from 1-5 percent on gross income.     

But the moves failed to visibly boost net tax revenue, which shrank by 4.2 percent in Jan-Sept, compared το a 5.3 percent drop in the first eight months of the year.       

Greece said on Wednesday it would catch up with a target to increase net tax revenue by 0.8 percent for the full year, helped by a new property tax and other spending cuts that will kick in during the rest of the year.          

(Reuters)