Members of parliament have postponed until Wednesday the vote on taxing extra income from Russian oil. However, the Freedom and Solidarity Party continues to reject the proposals signed by the Finance Minister. The Liberals are only willing to support the oil tax if its proceeds are translated into a reduction in VAT on diesel and petrol. The Finance Minister points out that this is not possible and that European rules do not allow for such adjustments. The Freedom and Solidarity Party, on the other hand, is convinced that an exemption could be negotiated in Brussels. The Freedom and Solidarity party also rejects the latest proposal by Finance Minister Igor Matovič that the proceeds from the special tax on Russian oil processing should be used for the salaries of nurses, doctors and teachers: “Nice try, the effort is appreciated, but it is not possible in the light of EU law and our obligations. I do not know whether it is worth it for us to break the rules and to be a black sheep within the EU. Let us use the oil revenue to pay higher salaries for nurses, doctors and teachers.”
According to the chairman of the Freedom and Solidarity party, Richard Sulík, Matovič should have thought about the increase in the salaries of nurses, doctors and teachers earlier, when he was preparing the draft state budget.
Source: TASR, RTVS
