POLITICS-Greek PM says to submit tax cut plan to parliament in coming weeks

The Greek government will submit a bill to parliament in the coming weeks to cut taxes, newly elected Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said at his first cabinet meeting on Wednesday. The new parliament will be sworn in next week following Sunday's election, which was won by Mitsotakis' conservative New Democracy party.

New Democracy has pledged a series of tax cuts, including a reduction in corporate and income tax. It wants to introduce a phased-in reduction in corporate tax to 24 percent in 2020, and 20 percent in 2021 from its present level of 28 percent. It also wants to cut dividend tax in half to 5 percent in 2020.

Mitsotakis, who replaces leftist Alexis Tsipras as prime minister, also gave his cabinet a list of priorities up to December as part of a government action plan, urging them to speed up the implementation. "I will be the first to be evaluated by the people," he told his cabinet, which includes 50 ministers and deputy ministers, among them five women.

Ministers were given strict instructions to avoid potential conflicts of interest, including a ban on hiring first or second-degree relatives and on holding down any other job. "The government should work as a well-tuned machine," Mitsotakis said.

Despite winning a comfortable parliamentary majority, the government should still seek alliances and cooperation with other political parties, the prime minister added. "We want to build bridges, not raise walls," he said.

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