Slovak News Back to the news
Fico: Tax Increase Would Do More Harm Than Good
Friday 30 April 2010 Zoom in | Print page
Bratislava, April 30 (TASR) - Even though it's necessary to consolidate public finances in Slovakia in the next few years, any tax increases should be avoided, as this would do more harm than good to Slovakia, Prime Minister Robert Fico (Smer-SD) said at a convention of the Republic Union of Employers (RUZ) on Friday.
At the same time, Fico said that it wouldn't be beneficial to reduce salary deductions, as this would in turn threaten the social system and healthcare.
"At the moment, an upwards intervention in the tax system would worsen the position of our country within the global economy, and would obviously also have a negative effect on the social sphere," said Fico.
The premier claimed that Slovakia will be one of few EU-member countries to consolidate its public finances this year. According to the official plan from the autumn of 2009, the public deficit should be reduced to 5.5 percent of GDP from last year's 6.8 percent.
As large EU countries such as France, Germany and United Kingdom will continue to create high deficits, Slovakia should put aside any thought of faster consolidation, said Fico.
"There's a legitimate question that if large economies pull their deficits to 7-10 percent, why should Slovakia have ambitious plans to achieve a balanced budget in 2015? These are legitimate issues, although we think that a balanced budget is the best thing that can happen to this country, and we should strive for it," said Fico.
All rights reserved. Any publishing or further dissemination of press releases and photographs from TASR's resources without TASR's prior written approval constitutes a violation of the Copyrights Act.
