Value-added tax (VAT) will remain at the current level of 20 percent, after Parliament approved an amendment to the VAT Act.
Smer-SD MPs Ladislav Kamenický and Jaroslav Demian proposed dropping a provision from the legislation that would reduce VAT from 20 percent to 19 percent if the public finance deficit is squeezed below 3 percent of GDP, this amendment that VAT rate should be reduced automatically was passed by the former government led by Iveta Radičová in 2010. Eurostat statistics relating to last year have shown that the Slovak deficit reached 2.77 percent of GDP. According to the approved amendment, the deficit is expected to continue to fall in the next few years in line with European and national fiscal rules. “The deficit target in 2015 is set at 2.49 percent of GDP, at 1.61 percent in 2016,” said Kamenický.
