SaS: People Already Feeling Higher Taxes in Their Net Pay

Bratislava, 10 February (TASR) – Although people in Slovakia are working to the same level this year and their gross incomes are unchanged, their net incomes are significantly lower, and the reason is that instead of saving on itself, the government has increased the contributions and taxes that people are already seeing in their January pay slips, representatives of the opposition Freedom and Solidarity (SaS) party stated at a press conference on Tuesday. "They are robbing people, taking money, which they then spend left and right, arranging various rackets, various tenders that are overpriced, in this way squeezing the public. They collect this mafia tax with one hand and enjoy it with the other," said SaS chair and MP Branislav Groehling. According to House financial committee vice-chair Marian Viskupic (SaS), the state is taking more this year from employees, sole traders and entrepreneurs. "We're all paying the state more every month just because the government simply refuses to save on itself and instead keeps taking more and more protection money from people," he added. Viskupic also outlined measures which, according to SaS, would help both the economy and the public. First of all, there's a need to abolish all the harmful measures adopted by the current government. He described changes to the tax system, such as a return to a flat income tax, simplifying VAT and abolishing the transaction tax, as necessary. "We need a tax system without chaos, without exemptions, without a tax jungle, without everything that leftists always bring and adopt whenever they govern — exemptions and exemptions from exemptions," the opposition MP added. mf/df