SLOVAK legislators adopted in 2012 significantly more laws burdening the wallets of Slovaks than the opposite, according to an analysis of the laws, conducted by the F. A. Hayek Foundation in cooperation with the Association of Taxpayers of Slovakia, the SITA newswire wrote on February 26.

Out of 97 legal norms adopted in 2012, 37 percent placed a burden on the pockets of citizens and businesspeople, while 15 percent of adopted legislation did the opposite. Other laws had no influence on either group.

“The government put huge stress on public finance consolidation last year; but most of the measures were related to the public finances’ side of revenues,” wrote the foundation as cited by SITA. “Out of the norms affecting financial burdening of citizens, almost three quarters had a negative impact.”

The foundation specified that the adopted legislation increased taxes, levies, fees, fines and other compulsory payments by citizens and business persons to the state and other public administration bodies.