BRATISLAVA, January 1, (WEBNOVINY) – Robert Fico, the chairman of Slovakia’s strongest political party, the opposition SMER-SD, is convinced that the rate of redistributing public sources in Slovakia is unsustainable as fewer and fewer funds come from taxes and the requirements towards the state keep increasing. “When we look at taxes in Slovakia and taxes abroad, in developed countries, I don’t wonder that Germany or France are so critical about nineteen-percent income tax rate paid by corporate entities. I therefore think that at least companies with above-standard profit should be taxed at over 19 percent. We also think this should also affect individuals with above-standard incomes and, as we have already said, banks,” told Fico SITA. He thinks this should be executed instantly. SMER-SD would not oppose as well a luxury tax, which means higher VAT on “luxurious” commodities.
Fico says flat tax is a chimera as it failed to bring any benefits at all. “Had it been true what they said on the flat tax, Slovakia would not have one of the highest unemployment rates in Europe today. If it had been so, economic growth would have probably been totally different. Flat tax, or a nineteen-percent tax, was not the main reason for arrival of investors. The main attraction for them was cheap workforce and various stimuli that the governments provided to coming investors,” underlined Fico. According to him, his party supports introducing more solidarity into the tax system, into taxes so that those who have more would contribute more to joint funds.
It’s not easy to discuss concrete tax rates right now, Fico says. “Everything depends on what the new government will look like,” he opines, adding that his party can submit their proposals. “Regarding corporate entities, we’ve been discussing something between 21 and 23 percent. When discussing the rich, we set the rate for income higher than 33,000 euros annually. We’ve been discussing a 5-percent tax on dividends in cases when a natural person uses these dividends for private purposes. We’ve been discussing increasing the bank tax from 0.4 to 0.7 or 0.8 percent. These are our numbers. The moment the new government is formed and even if SMER would be a member of this government, we’d have to adapt to the demands of someone else,” said Fico.
SITA
