President Will Sign Transaction Tax Law, Wants Gov't Consider Amending it

Bratislava, October 18 (TASR) - President Peter Pellegrini has decided to sign the law on the new transaction tax, as he views it as an essential part of the consolidation measures. However, he called on the government to consider amending potential unintended negative impacts of this tax by next April, when the law will come into force. "Although I do respect the government's responsibility for this measure, I want to call on it to take further steps in this field. The transaction tax is rather unique and not a common measure in European countries. Therefore, I will highly appreciate if the government familiarises itself with all the consequences of this tax in detail," Pelegrini said on Friday. According to the president, the question is, for example, whether or not charitable NGOs should also pay the transaction tax, or whether it is right for all trading companies to pay it when sending salaries to their employees etc. "Therefore, I believe that the government will do its utmost to eliminate, through an amendment it is already preparing, the unintended consequences of this new tax on our whole society by April 1, which could have been partly caused by its adoption via a fast-track legislative procedure without due analyses of its overall impacts on all parts of the Slovak economy," added Pellegrini. Parliament passed the law on the financial transaction tax in early October. It dealt with it via a fast-track legislative procedure along with other measures included in the consolidation package. The tax rate will be 0.4 percent of the amount of the financial transaction, with a ceiling limit of €40. The tax on cash withdrawals will be twice as high, namely 0.8 percent. The financial transaction tax should bring €700 million per year into the state budget, but the figure for next year will be lower, as the tax will only take effect as of next April. ko/mcs