Kamenicky: No One Wishes to Have Educated Society More Than Me

Bratislava, September 18 (TASR) - Finance Minister Ladislav Kamenicky (Smer-SD) rejects what he sees as a negative campaign against himself over his recent comment regarding the hike in VAT on books and emphasised that his statement on Tuesday September 17 about consolidation measures was misinterpreted in a purpose-built fashion. "What I said was that, according to an analysis, higher income groups spend more money on books. I've never said, however, that people with lower income don't need books," he accentuated. Kamenicky takes objection to comments, which claim that he doesn't care about education. "No one wants the minimum tax burden on books more than me; no one wants to have an educated society more than me," he claimed, adding that VAT on school textbooks is going to be dropped from 10 to 5 percent. The Finance Minister explained that the priority with the consolidation measures has been to introduce the lightest possible strain on low-income earners. "The picture painted here yesterday almost was that the biggest problem of persons struggling to support their families was that they can't go to their favourite cafes for latte and read a book there. No, that's not the problem. People are troubled by prices of food, medication, electricity... all of which will see cuts in VAT," he claimed. Kamenicky doesn't take kindly the criticism from those who were in control of public finances in previous governments. "They're responsible for us inheriting the worst public finances in the entire EU, they were blowing money and have inflicted a turbo-debt on us. Now it's us stuck with the bill that they've left us and we need to pay up. That's why these measures are necessary," he said. Kamenicky believes that the power to make books more accessible is held by the biggest book sellers in Slovakia, too, as they sell the books at excessive mark-ups in his view. mf/mcs