BRATISLAVA September 22, (WEBNOVINY) — The Trade Unions Confederation (KOZ) will organize a protest meeting against government’s planned measures regarding taxes and the social system in front of the Slovak Parliament building on October 12 of this year. Members of KOZ Presidium agreed on the protest on Wednesday as president of trade union organization OZ KOVO Emil Machyna informed SITA news agency. He said that individual trade unions would arrange protest actions in regions. The reason why the trade unionists are preparing the protest actions is that the Cabinet did not accept their reservations about tax laws and the changes in social insurance.
The trade unionists expressed their disapproval with increasing the value-added tax (VAT) rate as well as increasing the excise tax except tax on tobacco at a meeting of the representatives of the government and employers on Tuesday. The Vice President of the Trade Unions Confederation (KOZ) Vladimir Mojs stated that the reason behind the trade unions’ discontent with the prepared changed in taxation of income and consumption was mainly the negative impact these measures would have on the lowest-income groups of citizens. The trade unionists expect that increasing the base rate of VAT by one percentage point to twenty percent will raise prices for goods and services. KOVO President Machyna underscored that it was necessary to consolidate public finances but with a different burden imposed on citizens and businesses.
SITA