Athens, Nov 23 (IANS): Taxi drivers, lawyers, doctors and civil engineers -- thousands of Greece's self-employed professionals took to the streets in the country's capital to protest against the government's proposed tax reforms.

The proposed changes "lead to the demise of a large part of the middle class," Giannis Hatzitheodosiou, president of the Professional Chamber of Athens, told journalists on Wednesday during the protest.

The government's aim is to introduce minimum presumptive taxable income and income tax on claims that tax evasion is widespread among freelancers. The draft tax legislation has already been submitted to the Parliament and is scheduled to be voted on before the end of this year, Xinhua news agency reported.

Although the ratio of self-employed professionals reaches about 30 per cent in Greece (some 750,000 people), 70 per cent of taxpayers in this category declare average annual incomes of less than 10,000 euros ($10,890), which equals the annual income of minimum wage earners, according to the official data. (1 euro= $1.09)