Prague, Nov 27 (CTK) – The Czech ANO movement wants the bill on the compulsory electronic registration of sales (EET) to be passed prior to the 2016 budget, ANO head and Finance Minister Andrej Babis said after the rightist opposition used obstructions to prevent the EET´s passing by the Chamber of Deputies on Friday.
Babis said that to him personally, the EET, as an effective tool to curb grey economy and tax evasion, is as important as the state budget bill on which the lower house is to take the final vote on December 9.
The draft 2016 state budget, which was completed by the Finance Ministry and has made it through the first and second readings in parliament, projects the state revenues including two billion crowns worth of the expected proceeds from the EET.
Babis says he could bridge the gap using other sources, if the EET bill failed to be passed, but he does not want this to happen.
“Two billion would not be so huge a problem, but I reject this on principle. It is impossible for the opposition to sweep it [EET] from the table. It is absolutely unacceptable,” Babis said.
“ANO will be pushing for the EET bill to be passed prior to the final budget vote,” Babis said.
ANO deputy chairman Jaroslav Faltynek said an extraordinary session of the lower house may be convoked to pass the EET before December 9.
Opposition Civic Democrat (ODS) deputies´ group chairman Zbynek Stanjura said the state budget bill should not be used as an instrument of pressure on the opposition.
“Nevertheless, the ODS is against the budget bill, and it would be a good piece of news for us if it were not passed. If so, the Czech Republic would follow a stop-gap budget with expenditures lower [than those projected by the 2016 budget bill],” Stanjura said.
The ODS and the other rightist opposition party, TOP 09, have been criticising the Babis-promoted EET bill since the very beginning and they announced their readiness to block it by obstructions long beforehand.
The ODS and TOP 09 say the duty to use an electronic cash register would liquidate small tradespeople by raising their work burden and expenditures.
In addition, the bill would provide Babis with information that can be misused by his Agrofert company within the economic competition, TOP 09 says.
Babis has dismissed the danger of data misuse.
The ODS and TOP 09 lawmakers prevented the EET´s passage by giving a long series of speeches and proposing various changes to the agenda throughout the session hours.
Babis criticised the parliament´s order of procedure for enabling such filibustering and said ANO will try to initiate a change to the order that would prevent similar obstructions.
