Council of State Rules Annual Tax Fee on Professionals Constitutional

A plenary Session of the Council of State (CoS), Greece’s highest administrative court, ruled on Friday that the imposition of an annual tax fee on self-employed professionals (single-person businesses) was constitutional. The annual fee (ranging from 500 to 650 euros) affects professionals ranging from physicians, attorneys to craftsmen and tutors.

The CoS ruled that the imposition of the specific profession tax does not violate specific provisions of the Greek Constitution.

In particular, the ruling deemed, given the characteristics of the specific fee (a low annual fee, legal exceptions and exemptions etc), its imposition was not in violation of provisions of the Greek Constitution, which lay out the principles of universality and equality of taxation vis-a-vis citizens, the principle of proportionality, and Article 1 of the First Additional Protocol to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR).