Panos Papadopoulos, CEO of Forthnet SA, Greece’s biggest pay-television company, has told Bloomberg that the newly introduced pay-TV tax will make their battle against the likes of Netflix even harder.

The taxes “will lead to extremely burdensome conditions of unfair competition in favor of foreign companies that offer similar services over the Internet and their revenues are not taxed in Greece,” Papadopoulos said. The pay-TV levy will “create unprecedented adverse market conditions hampering the competitiveness of the Greek pay-TV industry.”

For Papadopoulos, the unfairness of the pay-TV tax is evident. The company has about half a million subscribers. A pay-TV subscriber in Greece pays about 62 euros a month for a bouquet of channels, including movies, sitcoms and other programs as well as a land line. According to Forthnet’s website, the company has started charging an additional 6.2 euros a month for the pay-TV levy. In contrast, a user of the Internet-based service Netflix Inc, which was rolled out in Greece earlier this year, pays 7.99 euros a month for a basic service or 11.99 euros for a premium offering.

A spokesman for Netflix declined to comment on the pay-TV tax. The U.S. company levies a sales tax on subscribers that it pays the Greek state. A spokesman for the Greek finance ministry said Netflix doesn’t offer the same services as local pay-TV providers and it is not based in Greece, so it can’t be taxed on the income it makes locally.

For Forthnet’s Papadopoulos, the additional taxes may backfire, reducing government receipts by forcing Greeks to consume less.
“The state will end up losing significant revenue by imposing such excessive taxes,” he said.

The full story is available here: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-06-07/greek-merchants-cry-foul-as-netflix-airbnb-escape-new-taxes