The Finance Ministry is reserved about the opposition’s proposal to cut income tax for individuals and legal entities, lowering it from the current 19 percent to 17 percent.
According to the proposal, submitted on June 6, the entire amount collected from individuals' income tax would be allocated to Slovakia’s regional governments.
According to Ivan Mikloš, vice-chairman of the opposition Slovak Democratic and Christian Union and former finance minister, the proposal does not endanger the state budget or the planned euro adoption.
Finance Minister Ján Počiatek said on June 6 that the Finance Ministry’s position on the matter is that there is no scope for such a step. He said it would represent a gap of several billions in the budget and increase the deficit, making it impossible to meet the Maastricht criteria.
Počiatek also said that a possible cut in value-added tax for some commodities such as books or internet services, as has been mentioned by Prime Minister Robert Fico, is only being considered theoretically.
Compiled by Zuzana Vilikovská from press reports
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