The coalition's Slovak National Party (SNS), with respect to the drafting of next year's state budget, is demanding the full scrapping of the transaction tax, SNS spokesperson Zuzana Skopcova stated on Tuesday. The party underlined that its support for the state budget is contingent on changes in this area.
The transaction tax is unlikely to be scrapped entirely, although it could be adjusted. The reason is that no way has yet been found to make up for the shortfall in state revenues as a result of its scrapping, House Vice-chair Tibor Gašpar (Smer-SD) informed on Tuesday.
Premier Robert Fico (Smer-SD) previously announced plans to scrap the transaction tax as of next year. It's one of the issues linked to drafting next year’s budget, as the tax brings the state hundreds of millions of euros in revenue annually. Gašpar declined to say whether the Coalition Council managed to reach an agreement on the fate of the tax at its session on Monday (21 September).
"However, based on the statements made just a few hours or days before the Coalition Council meeting, it is evident that the transaction tax probably won't be scrapped entirely. There will likely be only some adjustments, as there's currently no instrument to replace this shortfall," said Gašpar. At the same time, he recalled reactions to the announced abolition of the transaction tax, according to which the move would not have a significant positive impact on the Slovak economy anyway.
"If coalition partners argue that there are insufficient funds, SNS points out that in the last three months alone, more than €1.5 billion has been spent by the Environment Ministry, with a five-year horizon,” the coalition party pointed out.
According to Progressive Slovakia (PS) leader Michal Šimečka the transaction tax should be abolished as soon as possible and for everyone, as anything else harms the Slovak economy.
"Nobody knows what's going on. It's confusion every day. So, most recently, they've started talking about the abolition of the abolition. How is an ordinary person supposed to make sense of this?" asked MP and Finance Committee member Stefan Kišš (PS). In his view, no changes to the transaction tax would help; the only solution is to scrap it completely.
"During the time the transaction tax has existed, major damage has been done to the economy. The squeeze caused by this measure and others has been substantial, and the damage is enormous," he warned.
Kišš is convinced that the public finance deficit next year will not be lower than in 2023, when the current government took office. "If it's lower, then only in the proposal on paper, but not in reality. We already have some experience: three years with this fourth Fico government and the previous 12 years with three Fico governments. And we know that what they put on paper is generally not delivered. I dare say publicly that the deficit will be worse than they plan," the opposition MP said.
Source: TASR
