For example, around three quarters of civil servants and two-thirds of public utility workers were located in the top 30% of the income distribution at the onset of the crisis (Matsaganis and Leventi, 2012a). The introduction of the pensioners’ solidarity contribution (a special tax on pensions, excluding those up to EUR 1 400 per month) and cuts in pension benefits (abolition of the 13th and 14th month payments) also seemed to have been weakly progressive. On the other hand, policies affecting low-income households, such as the 2012 cut in unemployment benefits (Table 2.9), and the 2010 VAT hikes (based on Leventi and Matsaganis, 2013a), were regressive. The 2011 emergency property tax appears to be, in principle, progressive.