PS Proposes Scrapping Transaction Tax, Wants Special House Session on Issue

Bratislava, March 5 (TASR) - The opposition Progressive Slovakia (PS) party believes that the new tax on financial transactions, which should be paid by entrepreneurs as of April, is harmful and should never be applied, and so PS MPs have submitted to Parliament a bill that would scrap this tax. At the same time, the MPs filed a motion to convene a special House session over this issue. The session should be convened within seven days. "I firmly believe and want to call on all coalition members, especially Andrej Danko [Slovak National Party/SNS], to join us in efforts to scrap this stupid and harmful transaction tax. If we fail to do so and the transaction tax isn't scrapped under this government of Robert Fico (Smer-SD), I as PS chairman promise that if we form part of a government and have, along with out partners, a majority in parliament after an election, scrapping this transaction tax will be one of the first things we'll do at the first parliamentary session," PS leader Michal Simecka told a news conference on Wednesday. Simecka called the transaction tax "stupid" for several reasons. "First, it will cause chaos throughout the business sector, among banks, as even financial administration and tax office staff are unable to say how exactly the tax should be levied, who should pay it and how. It has more holes in it than a Swiss cheese, it has so many exceptions, and more may yet come so that it will stir up absolute chaos. At the same time, it will stifle economic growth and raise the price of everything again," explained Simecka. According to Simecka, the government didn't have to deploy the financial transactions tax and other harmful measures as part of the consolidation package at all if it had managed to save more. It could have saved hundreds of millions of euros, if, for example, it hadn't set up a new ministry, bought new aircraft or provided flat-rate subsidies to offset high energy prices. ko/df