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Fico Dismisses Pledges to Reduce Social Contributions as Lies
Thursday 01 April 2010 Zoom in | Print page
Bratislava, April 1 (TASR) - The introduction of elements of progressiveness into income tax on individuals is a matter of principle and the state wouldn't profit much from such a measure, Prime Minister Robert Fico said at his meeting with representatives of the French-Slovak Chamber of Commerce in Bratislava on Thursday.
"Just to avoid creating the impression that we want to introduce progressiveness because the state would need huge revenues for its budget, I'm pointing out that this tax constitutes an income for towns and villages," said Fico.
In the past few days, the premier has repeatedly touched on the re-introduction of progressive tax levels, which were abolished by the tax reform of 2004. According to Fico, his Smer-SD party wants to discuss the matter with potential coalition partners following the general election in June.
Aside from this measure, Smer has no intention of changing the Slovak tax system, he said, stressing that there isn't any scope for cutting taxes or deductions, which overall are among the lowest in Europe.
"I'm against any consideration of continuing to lower income tax for legal entities. What I also want to say is that we have no scope for cutting deductions. Let's not delude ourselves, whoever says that they will cut deductions is lying," said Fico, in reference to the opposition SDKU-DS party's election programme, which includes a proposal to reduce deductions.
As regards the healthcare system, Fico said that Smer will push for raising state healthcare contributions for people insured with state-run insurers from 4.8 to 5 percent. In addition, he said that he's proud of legislation whereby private health-insurers are banned from making profits on compulsory health insurance.
Shareholders of the health-insurers affected by the measure have already initiated international arbitration, demanding hundreds of millions of euros in compensation.
However, Fico said that he's unruffled by the prospect of a lawsuit and isn't worried about possibly losing the case. "I believe that we'll win the suit at international level. As far as the suit goes, we've had some good updates," said the premier.
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