General government revenue from taxes and contributions this year will be €290 million higher than the Finance Ministry had originally assumed in February of this year.
This is based on the current fiscal forecasts that Finance Minister Peter Kažimír introduced on Tuesday. Thereby also the outlook improves for tax revenue and social contributions in the coming years. In 2015, compared to the February prognosis, it should be higher by €190 million, in 2016 by about €202 million, and in 2017 by €145 million. Finance Minister Peter Kažimír attributes the better prognosticated revenue mainly to a successful fight against tax evasion, while improved labour market developments also have a positive effect. Despite this higher than expected government revenue, Prime Minister Robert Fico played down any suggestions his government would reduce the rate of value added tax (VAT) from 20 percent to 19 percent. Fico claimed that a 1% reduction in VAT would not bring a reduction of prices.
