A chill wind on the Akti Miaouli
Posted on | May 10, 2010 | No Comments
I have referred to the effect of Greece’s current agonies on its maritime sector. Not least, the crisis’ impact threatens the continued viability of what cognoscenti (lawyers, Greek shipowners and parliamentarians) call Law 89.
This dandy ordinance was the brain child of some famous shipping tycoons in the 1950s., names available on request.
Essentially, it provides for a broad exemption from tax for a “Law 89″ company, which is essentially one engaged in the shipping business.
Obviously, tax breaks for the elite, certainly including shipowners, will now come under scrutiny.
Greece’s current Pasok (Socialist Party) government is under growing pressure to soak the rich, and this includes repeal of Law 89 and other
so-called incentives.
Word on the Akti Miaouli (the famed street of maritime dreams fronting on Piraeus harbour)
is that the Papandreou government, and the gnomes of Brussels and Berlin, are sharpening their knives.
Law 89 is basically what’s kept the shipowning class in town; but now, a chill wind is blowing.
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