After strong pressure from the country’s creditors, the SYRIZA-led government has agreed to the complete abolition of the special value-added tax status for all Greek islands, even the remotest ones.
While, as previously planned, October will see the end of the 30 percent discount on VAT rates on the popular holiday islands such as Santorini and Myconos, and July 2016 will mark the end of the discount on most other Aegean islands, the previous clause allowing the most outlying Aegean islands to hold on to that discount indefinitely has been scrapped, as they too will see their privilege end from January 1, 2017.
A detailed list of the islands in each category will be determined by a joint ministerial decision. The government had also pledged benefits to islanders with very low incomes but it is not clear now whether it will do so.
Source: Kathimerini