In response to your report on the government incentives available to foreign investors, I would suggest that clarifying the rules without doubt makes public officials behave more fairly.
Although investments above €256 million do not fall within the domain of such rules (investors can negotiate with the government or its investment agency bilaterally), what matters here is the transparency of the whole process.
The only way to achieve this is to oblige all the "players in the game" to adhere to greater openness. That way, potential investments such as Hankook will not be lost.
In fact, there is strong competition between govern-ments to attract foreign capital through favourable tax conditions and incentives. As long as we accept that competition between governments is ethical, I do not see anything wrong in adapting incentives to foreign investors needs.
Another article in your newspaper reports on the World Bank suggesting that Slovakia should decrease its payroll taxes for low-income groups.
Although the World Bank wrote this some months ago, everybody knows that decreasing payroll taxes could result in employment growth. This fact suggests that payroll taxes should decrease for all income groups and not just for those on low incomes.
Bruno S Sergi
University of Messina, Italy
University of Greenwich Business School, London
