BRATISLAVA, February 14, (WEBNOVINY) — Speaker of Parliament and Chairman of the coalition party SaS Richard Sulik said at the HNClub discussion forum on Monday that harmonization of tax bases would most likely lead to subsequent harmonization of tax rates, which is unacceptable. “This is a typical socialistic solution, which I definitely do not agree with,“ said Sulik. The idea of aligning tax bases is one of the theses of the Competitiveness Pact, presented by Germany and France. Sulik said that he did not oppose the theses as such but he is concerned about, in his opinion, inevitably ensuing step, which is harmonization of tax rates.
Deputy Chairman of the opposition party SMER-SD Peter Kazimir considers such way of thinking “parochial“. He thinks that the idea of tax competition between individual states of the eurozone is erroneous and anachronic. He opines that only countries like Ukraine and Romania could use low taxes as the lure. The issue of a common tax base cannot bother us and especially talking about this issue should not be a problem for us, said Kazimir during the discussion.
Kazimir perceives the Competitiveness Pact is a package of measures, which some countries would like to push through but leaders of these countries would suffer political losses if only national policies were changed. “The Stability Pact contains issues which are unenforceable on the national level to certain degree. I dare to say that for example France would like to push through changes to the pension system and so Sarkozy is trying to enforce intended changes on international level,” concluded Kazimir.
The pact that leaders of Germany and France presented and which is a hot topic of talks of Ministers of Finance in Brussels and will also be an important point on the agenda of the EU summit in March also comprises some positive measures, Sulik and Kazimir agreed. One of these measures is for example the constitutional law setting the cap on public debt. “I definitely agree,“ said Sulik adding that this measure is part of Slovak government program statement. The opposition is also open to talks on this issue. Kazimir underscored, however, SMER-SD’s condition to participate in the process of forming new fiscal regulations from the very beginning.
SITA