Danko: SNS Rejects Any Raising of Taxes or Their Payments Via QR Codes

Bratislava, May 22 (TASR) - The budget for next year should be addressed in a different way than by raising taxes, coalition's Slovak National Party (SNS) chair Andrej Danko declared on Thursday. Danko reiterated that he will continue to push for the abolition of the transaction tax for sole traders and small businesses at the very least. He disagrees with any potential increase in property taxes for ordinary people, as well as with the Finance Ministry's project to introduce payments via QR codes. Danko underlined that his party is not interested in destabilizing the government or the state budget, which is why it is approaching the issue of the transaction tax with caution. He is giving the Finance Ministry the opportunity to reconsider this policy and believes that the topic will be discussed constructively during Friday’s (May 23) coalition council session. „The transaction tax was introduced as a trial project. It is my firm belief that it should be abolished. The argument that it would generate €700 million for the state is, in my view, built on shaky ground," the SNS chair stated at a press conference. Danko's party is submitting an amendment to abolish the tax for sole traders and small businesses at the next parliamentary session. Even before Prime Minister Robert Fico (Smer-SD) met with representatives of local authorities, Danko had already said he would not support an increase in property tax. „No taxes on apartments will be raised — not even tacitly by giving municipalities more authority. I will never support such a law. If you allow local councils to raise property taxes, it will destroy households," he said. However, he could imagine tax increases for retail chains: "If they can’t give this state money for sports or culture, then let them pay through land taxes," he added. Danko also disagrees with the Finance Ministry's plan to introduce a new QR code-based payment system. "I want to say on behalf of SNS that further burdening the state, paying for software, and misleading people by saying they’ll pay with QR codes is totally unacceptable to us. We again see only someone's private interest behind this," he underlined. mf