KDH: Common People to Bear 95% of Planned Austerity Cuts

Bratislava, September 18 (TASR) - The outcome of planned consolidation measures will be that 95 percent of financial resources are going to be paid for by the people, whereas the state plans to save only 5 percent with cuts to its own operations, chair of opposition's KDH Milan Majersky and MP Jozef Hajko stated on Wednesday. "Slovakia has the government of price hikes and the suffocating of businesses. The consolidation will impact everyone - entrepreneurs, employees, the rich, but, what's worst, it will hit mostly the poor," said Majersky. Hajko criticised the planned hike in VAT on books and the introduction of tax on financial transactions for businesses. "It's delusional to think that this won't hurt the people because businesses will translate these costs into higher prices for goods and services, and it'll be the people who are going to foot the bill at the end of the day anyway," he said, adding that KDH expects a sharp increase in inflation next year. KDH also promotes the preservation of the "parental pension", which is enshrined in the Slovak Constitution as well. Hajko believes that the government must introduce 95-percent austerity cuts also to itself. "We propose to slash the number of public administration employees by ten percent. Currently, there are 440,000 and their number is still growing. The preponderance of that figure is made up by the central state apparatus. We believe that if the state reduced their number, it would still be capable of carrying out its functions," he claimed. In addition, KDH proposed to cut ministerial expenditures by ten percent. mf/mcs