PS Calls on Government to Postpone Transaction Tax by at Least Three Months

Bratislava, March 19 (TASR) - The introduction of a new financial transaction tax, which entrepreneurs are due to start paying as of April 1 of this year, is accompanied by uncertainty and chaos, opposition Progressive Slovakia (PS) party representatives told a news conference on Wednesday, calling on the government to postpone it by at least three months, therefore. According to PS leader Michal Simecka, people in Slovakia are already living a hard life, suffering from high prices, dysfunctional state services, broken roads and problems in the health-care sector. "As if this weren't enough, the transaction tax is coming in two weeks along with all the chaos, obligations, uncertainty, increased costs and prices related to it. I'll just remind you of the fact that this tax is paid in almost no other country in the world," stressed Simecka. Simecka said that no one knows exactly how the tax will be paid, and several members of the governing coalition don't want it, either. He noted that PS has been against the transaction tax since the very beginning and wanted to scrap it at a special House session, but this failed to be convened, however. "I want to call on the government to do one thing at this time - stop this tax now while you can. The law took effect as of January 1, but what can still be done at this point is to postpone the obligation to comply with it. As it's being accompanied by such enormous chaos and uncertainty and no one is prepared for it, not even our authorities, postpone the obligation to pay the tax for at least one quarter," said Simecka. According to him, this could be done via a fast-track legislative procedure at the next House session due to begin on Tuesday (March 25). "We all know that the transaction tax needs to be completely scrapped. Not only is it economic nonsense that will suffocate our economy and bring another wave of price growth; it may also result in many Slovak companies going bankrupt," said PS vice-chair Michal Truban. As the tax is ill-considered, many controversial situations will arise that will have to be addressed by banks and entrepreneurs instead of the state, he warned. ko/df