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Greece won't Cut Heating Oil Tax Despite Smog

Athens SmogGreece’s government Wednesday ruled out reducing a tax on heating oil despite a sharp increase in smog resulting from extensive wood-burning.
In a joint press conference held after an emergency meeting on Christmas Day, Finance Minister Yannis Stournaras, Health Minister Adonis Georgiadis and Environment Minister Yiannis Maniatis said that responding to demands to reduce the tax on heating oil back to 2012 levels would be playing into the hands of fuel smugglers.
“Reducing the price is not the solution (to the smog problem), will boost smuggling and ultimately mean that we are subsidizing everyone, even those who use heating oil to warm their swimming pools, to cite one extreme example,” Finance Minister Yannis Stournaras told.
The three ministers further urged the public to take advantage of heating oil subsidies and free electricity available to low-income families.
Air pollution on Tuesday exceeded 200 mg/m3 level in Thessaloniki and other parts of northern Greece, and in other parts of the country overshot the 150 mg/m3 level the government last week set as a the trigger level at which it would offer free electricity to poor households.
The government on Wednesday said that it will revising this level down to 100 mg/m3.

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