Greek Merchants Cry Foul as Netflix, Airbnb Escape New Taxes

The chief executive officer of Forthnet SA, Greece’s biggest pay-television company, says the new levies make his battle against the likes of Netflix Inc. even harder. The story is similar for hotel-industry executives who say they face higher taxes that Internet-based services like Airbnb Inc. escape.

For its latest bailout tranche from creditors, Greece has reached deeper into its economy and is raising taxes on everything from beer, Internet use, phone services to pay-TV. It has increased the general sales levy and income taxes, prompting businesses to say growth will be damped in an economy that has shrunk by more than a quarter since 2008. Executives like Papadopoulos say what’s more galling is that the new levies give companies operating outside Prime Minister’s Alexis Tsipras’s jurisdiction an edge.