Greek government passes property tax but loses one deputy

[December 21, 2013]  ATHENS (Reuters) — Greece's coalition government expelled one lawmaker who failed to back a controversial new property law on Saturday.

This reduces the fragile two-party alliance of conservative Prime Minister Antonis Samaras to three in the country's 300-seat parliament.

Lawmaker Byron Polydoras said the new property tax, which includes farming land, amounted to "confiscation" and proposed taxing offshore real estate companies instead. The new law is a key element in Greece's efforts to meet its 2014 fiscal targets.

(Reporting by Harry Papachristou and Lefteris Papadimas)

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