Property tax In already taxed Grece

Property tax

Greece is also proposing an emergency property tax, to be paid through household energy bills.

However, Mr Traa said this was not a good idea.

"In our view, you should not be drawn to higher and higher taxes on the limited tax base," he said. "This will neither be economically or politically sustainable."

He said a more efficient tax system would be more helpful and called for a "much stronger resolve to tackle the problem of tax evasion".

"Greece cannot achieve the consolidation through spending cuts alone.

"The increase in revenues... must come from improving collection rather than by increasing or by introducing new taxes."

The chairman of the Athens Chamber of Commerce, Constantine Michalos, said the danger from new taxes could be social breakdown.

"In periods of recession the imposition of new taxes aggravates and increases unemployment, and if we reach the 20% unemployment level then economically there is an imminent risk that social cohesion will explode," he said.

European finance ministers also told Greece last week that they doubted the property tax would be successful and that more cuts would be more effective.

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According to an apparent email to the Greek government and published by an Athens newspaper, the Troika of the EU, European Central Bank and IMF have listed 15 measures to be implemented.

These includes demands that Greece make 100,000 employees in state-controlled companies redundant, which is 20,000 more than previously planned.

The continuing crisis has again unsettled financial markets, with share markets in Europe and the US down by more than 2% on Monday.

Earlier, Mr Venizelos said European and international institutions were using Greece as a "scapegoat" to "hide their own lack of competence to manage the crisis".

In a statement, Mr Venizelos also said that Greece had been "blackmailed and humiliated".

He said that to stop this situation, the country had to move ahead with its deficit reduction work so it could meet its financial targets.

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Your views

German-born Rolf Brunner has lived in Greece for the last 30 years and owns his own property company.

"My business of building houses and selling them to British people has been affected because people don't have any money anymore.

"My daughter has been affected as her teachers are all striking. She is going to study in Germany next year, she doesn't want to study in Greece.

"My wife is a painter, she has also been affected.

"Greece should have a future, it needs help. There is no other solution than for other countries like Germany to help Greece.

"The debt crisis for me is not the main problem. It is the mentality and the structure of bureaucracy that hinders this beautiful land with great opportunities to succeed."

Mr Venizelos said: "If we want to stabilise the situation... we have to make three large strategic decisions as part of our national strategy."

The three strategic decisions he highlighted were:

• Greece achieving its 2011 and 2012 fiscal targets
• Achieve annual budget surpluses "as soon as possible"
• Carry out structural changes to allow Greece to become more competitive and productive