BRATISLAVA, October 22, (WEBNOVINY) — Overall collection of taxes and payroll levies in recent years has not copied the development of the macroeconomic environment, according to the Finance Ministry. The ministry states that this suggests a decline in effectiveness of the collection of some taxes and levies. Therefore, elimination of the practice of tax evasion is one of the priority areas for Slovakia in the near future. This is included in the 2010 National Program of Reforms from the workroom of the Finance Ministry. The ministry points out that decreasing tax revenues expressed as percentage of GDP increases the difficulty of fiscal consolidation, as it requires adopting tougher consolidation measures on the side of spending.
Specific attention should be devoted to the value-added tax, whose collection has long been lagging behind the macroeconomic development. According to data of the Slovak Tax Directorate, for instance revenues from VAT collection in 2008 posted a minimum growth rate of 2.6 percent to EUR 4.63 billion. In 2008, the Slovak economy grew 6.2 percent . A year ago, GDP growth was 10.6 percent, and VAT collection rose 5.8 percent. The ministry proposes several measures to resolve the matter, such as increasing the efficiency of control mechanisms, adopting legislative changes, and simplifying the collection of taxes and levies, which should bring additional sources for the budget of the public administration, the ministry added.
SITA
