Prime Minister: Transaction Tax Not to Be Discussed During Extraordinary Session

Bratislava, 8 June (TASR) - The amendment to the transaction tax law will not be discussed at an extraordinary session of the House, but its second and third readings will take place at the regular parliamentary session in September, Premier Robert Fico (Smer-SD) said at a Sunday press conference. "On behalf of Smer-SD and the government, I want to make it clear that we won't support holding to an extraordinary parliamentary session taking place in July or whenever the opposition wishes. The opposition is behaving like economic terrorists — they first wrecked public finances and handed them over to us in the worst state in the whole European Union. And when we asked them how they plan to fix things, they had no answers. In fact, whenever we propose something that would actually bring money into the state budget, they try to sabotage it. They would prefer it if the entire transaction tax were abolished," he said. "There won’t be any emergency session. We’ll deal with the amendment to the transaction tax during a regular parliamentary session, which will take place sometime in September," he announced. "Mr Andrej Danko (Slovak National Party/SNS) is right in saying that when we introduced the transaction tax, we also saw — both in the coalition council and in the House — significant benefits being offered to sole traders. I can say that, when it comes to sole traders and small business owners, they have one of the most favourable tax systems anywhere in Europe," he emphasised. Fico stressed that introducing the transaction tax was necessary. “If we have the opportunity, we will look to narrow its scope. Ultimately, we agreed that any shortfall caused by reducing the tax—as proposed by SNS — could be compensated for by removing 17 November as a public holiday,” he said. lin