Thanos Tziritis, the chief executive of Greece's largest building materials company, is proud of how his business survived the worst depression in the nation's modern history.
After his home construction market virtually disappeared, Tziritis steered his company, Isomat, into a new export business, booking a healthy profit that was only slightly lower than in 2013.
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But with Greece virtually broke, the government is now looking to that profit - and any spare cash at companies and municipalities - to fill the financial gap.
In its latest proposal to creditors, Greece calls for new corporate taxes and other revenue-raising measures. A deal would help unlock fresh aid for the strapped country, just days before it faces a crucial debt payment.
Though the Greek proposal drew initial support from European officials, some of the details are prompting pushback. Creditors want further pension cuts and additional changes to the value-added tax system, including better collection efforts. From the beginning, officials at the International Monetary Fund, one of the country's creditors, have criticised the proposal's reliance on raising corporate tax, arguing that such increases will only hurt the country's already fragile economy. Many companies in Greece agree. "This is going to be tough for us - it is really going to increase our operating costs," Tziritis said as he led a tour of his plant, which is just outside this bustling port city in northern Greece. "Instead of the government making reductions in the public sector, it expects the private sector to pick up the bill. Companies will move overseas, more people will be laid off and, of course, there will be no growth in the Greek economy."
Of the $9 billion that the Greek plan is expected to raise through 2016, the bulk will come from measures aimed at pulling in money from businesses. These include a one-time 12 per cent tax for companies making more than €500,000, an increase in corporate and value-added taxes and a requirement that corporations increase the amount of money they pay into their pension plans. The proposal is the result of a last-ditch effort by the left-leaning Syriza government to present a plan that appeals to its lenders by providing reachable fiscal targets. At the same time, the government is under pressure from its left flank not to accept any form of pension cuts as a way to raise money.
The IMF, in particular, is upset that its demands for spending reductions have been ignored.
"All expenditure measures have been replaced by taxes on capital and labor," said a fund official who spoke on the condition of anonymity. "This is very growth unfriendly."
Lower growth for Greece in the years ahead is of particular concern for the IMF, to which Greece must pay €1.6 billion by Tuesday. If the economy slips even further, the country will only find it more difficult to pay down its onerous debts.
If the fund does not think a country will pay back its loans, it is restricted from lending additional money. And a robust growth rate is a crucial factor when staff economists conduct their forward-looking analysis.
Independent experts, too, assert that one of the main faults of the last bailout was that it leaned heavily on tax increases as opposed to politically sensitive spending cuts as a way to generate public revenue.
"The Greek proposal is simply populist austerity," said Theodore Pelagidis, an economist at the University of Piraeus who has studied the impact of previous Greek programs on the broader economy. "It's really worrying that a program will be approved with no spending cuts whatsoever."
Thessaloniki and its surroundings project a more independent, entrepreneurial spirit than Athens, where the hand of the state reigns supreme. With its proximity to Bulgaria and Turkey, Thessaloniki is also an export hub for the country.
The city's popular mayor, Yiannis Boutaris, is a businessman who oversees a family vineyard. His pragmatic approach to municipal politics and his willingness to battle Greece's powerful unions have come to symbolize the dismissive view that many corporate bosses here have toward the governing elite in Athens.
"It's not fair," said Demetri Politopoulos who manages a successful beer company northeast of Thessaloniki. "Many of the companies here have outperformed, and they will not be able to pay for this easily. It will definitely have negative effect on employment."
Isomat is especially worried about having to shoulder this extra burden, especially with the economy in such a parlous state.
Isomat produces a wide range of construction materials, including decorative paints, waterproofing liquids, specialty concretes and mortars.
Two years ago, Mr. Tziritis, 36, took control of the company from his father, who founded it 35 years ago. When the new-building market collapsed in the economic slump, he pushed into new areas like home restoration and, crucially, exports.
Exports to Russia, Germany and Balkan countries now account for one-third of the company's €33 million in sales. And they helped offset weakness in the domestic market. The company generates a profit of around 10 percent of sales.
But the transition has not been easy, Mr. Tziritis said - especially when exporting to Germany. Along with the cloud of the crisis, few Greek companies export such finished goods in large volumes. So getting foreign buyers interested was slow going at first.
One client in Germany refused to even consider buying the product because it was Greek. Another spent a year examining every aspect of the company's business before agreeing to take delivery.
"There has been a huge damage to our image," Mr. Tziritis said. "First, you have to prove that you are serious, and then you have to show that you are twice as good as your competitor."
The economic conditions in Greece did not help. A one-year loan can cost as much as 8 percent. And in some cases, overseas buyers, worried about Greece leaving the euro, are asking exporters to guarantee the delivery of their goods.
To his frustration, Mr. Tziritis found that the biggest obstacle to his company's growth was the thicket of regulations and requirements in Greece that make it difficult to invest and enlarge a business.
As he walked around the company's sprawling compound, he pointed to a 27,000-square-foot enclosure packed with Isomat products. It was a nice, airy space but not high tech by any measure.
Still, it took 20 months to get all the permissions and licenses to begin construction, as papers moved back and forth between Thessaloniki and Athens.
One reason for the delay, Mr. Tziritis said he was told, was that one of the government employees examining the request was on maternity leave and no one else was authorized to look at that specific Isomat file. The project remained in limbo for more than six months until the civil servant returned to work.
Building the warehouse was a snap, by comparison. It took just half a year.
"With all this bureaucracy and now with all this taxation, who would want to invest here?" Mr. Tziritis said, shaking his head.
Isomat, like just about every other company in Greece, is holding off on a major investment initiative. Mr. Tziritis does not want to expand the company's headquarters until he has a better read on the ever-changing political situation.
It is the tax increases that really worry him, not just in terms of his own company but for Greece itself.
Isomat added 100 people to its 350-strong work force over the last few years. In light of this new plan, he said, he will stop hiring. He said all companies in Greece would have to consider laying people off to remain competitive.
For an economy with 26 percent unemployment, this is a dire prospect.
But it is inevitable, Mr. Tziritis says, if the government expects Greek companies to ride to its rescue.
"How is it that such a small private sector has to pay for such a large public sector?" Mr. Tziritis asked. "It's a paradox."
©2015 The New York Times News Service
