New austerity measures worth 6.5 bln euros need to be gathered by the end of 2016, according to the draft budget for Greece. The government is waiting to see how much money will be squeezed from newly imposed agricultural taxes and from the abolition of the 800-euro/month non-taxable income threshold.

The goal is to yield 500 mln euros more than last year even though there will be a further 1.3% shrinkage of the GDP forecast for 2016. Specifically, an additional 0.8% of the GDP needs to be found to line state coffers for 2016. In other words, the government needs to find 45 bln euros worth of taxes for an economy that has shrnk by 173 bln euros (though it was heading towards 185 bln euros six months earlier).

The figures don’t add up and it’s likely that more reforms will be imposed. This was outrightly stated by EU Economic and Monetary Affairs Commissioner Pierre Moscovici, who gave a brief taste of what’s in store for Greece in his exclusive interview with Proto Thema on Sunday. He said that a second wave of measures would be needed for Greece to meet its targets.

Here are some examples of what’s to come:

– The steady abolition of the special tax rates for farmers.

– The abolition of the non-taxable threshold for low income earners (ie. less than 12,000 euros per annum).

– Clamping down on those who owe small debts to the government (as much as 25% of their income/pension rate) and the lowering of the confiscation rate to 1,000-1,250 euros.