Groehling: First Thing We'd Do in Government Would Be to Scrap Transaction Tax

Bratislava, November 8 (TASR) - The first measure the Freedom and Solidarity (SaS) party will adopt if it becomes part of the government in the future will be the scrapping of the transaction tax, SaS chairman Branislav Groehling said on TASR TV on Friday. The opposition leader argues that the funds that Robert Fico's (Smer-SD) government expects from the introduction of the new tax won't be collected in the planned amount anyway because of the economic slowdown. "The transaction tax is the greatest evil brought about by this government. It will absolutely devastate the business sector here; small and medium-sized companies will be completely destroyed, big companies will move abroad," stressed Groehling. According to him, SaS rejects the consolidation of public finances based on an increase in VAT and the introduction of a new transaction tax. "We should consolidate somewhere at the level of €1.2-1.4 billion. But this government has proposed a consolidation worth €2.7 billion," said the SaS chairman, asking how the cabinet intends to use the extra billion it plans to raise through consolidation measures. According to Groehling, SaS would put the focus of the consolidation of public finances on austerity. "What this country has, we can spend. If we don't have enough money for the 13th pensions, because we don't have enough for the 12th pensions in social security provider Socialna poistovna, then we have to re-evaluate that," he suggested. am/mcs