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In the Athens tax office Kapa Athens in the past three days hundreds of citizens are queuing on endless lines in order to keep the terms for payment. Many of the owners of old trucks and cars (over 7 years) are waiting to submit the license numbers of their automobiles. With the last increase of the so called “green tax”, the owners of an older model cars are forced to pay double or triple tax compared to last year. “There is no point to keep my old Renault, when the tax I have to pay is half of its market price,” says an angry citizen, who prefers to stop his car than paying the “monstrous” tax. Another mid aged woman from the same line says: “My car is old, however I would pay as much as they want. My parents live in the countryside so I cannot afford to stay without a car, and I cannot afford a new one.”

At the same time the crowd of people doesn’t stop and in the tax office itself hasn’t been planned additional window for payment of the road tax. On the lines are standing people who want to pay the tax for ending the trimester, fines for not paid on time VAT etc. On the other hand the tax administration officers are working with old computers, which are freezing and slowing down the service of the taxpayers, the offices are small and the lines in front of them reach the external stairs.

The changes made by the new Ministry of the environment, physical planning and public works in the calculations of the road tax are oriented towards restriction of the cars with high consumption of fuel and a higher degree of emission of noxious gas in the atmosphere. According to experts the only favored by the innovations are owners of the cars where the tax increase is only symbolical and those of hybrid cars (like Toyota Prius), where the tax is the lowest.