Prague, Aug 4 (CTK) – The Czech senior government Social Democrats (CSSD) will not be pushing for a rise in the income tax of firms in this election term, daily Hospodarske noviny (HN) writes today.
However, Prime Minister and CSSD chairman Bohuslav Sobotka said a debate on this issue would be reopened after the next parliamentary election due in 2017.
“We have agreed to prioritise measures against tax evasion now,” Sobotka told HN. However, he added, this will not suffice to achieve a balanced state budget.
A higher tax progression and a higher corporate tax of big companies will be debated again after the next general election, HN cites Sobotka as saying.
The coalition agreement of his CSSD, ANO and Christian Democrats (KDU-CSL) includes a possibility to raise taxes of firms and banks if tax yields were not sufficiently increased. The CSSD pushed through this provision in the agreement after the previous election.
At present, all firms pay a 19-percent tax on their profits. The CSSD wants to introduce another, slightly higher rate for the largest firms, HN writes.
It adds that Sobotka criticised Finance Minister Andrej Babis (ANO chairman) for mistakes in collecting VAT.
Last year, tax inspectors, searching for tax defaulters, froze about 15 billion crowns that were to be returned to firms for VAT, on suspicion of tax frauds. In February, the suspicion was not proved and the money was returned, LN writes.
“This is a methodological mistake of the Finance Ministry,” Sobotka told HN.
($1=24.687 crowns)
