Prime Minister Robert Fico has taken a leaf out of Hungarian PM Viktor Orban’s book and so wants to suck some extra money out of large companies using a ‘temporary’ extraordinary levy.
Fico’s stand-alone government is hoping to rake in around EUR 200 million from the levies over the next two years in order to balance out the deficit in public finances. The tax will apply to profitable undertakings like telecommunication operators, gas companies, heating companies or pharmaceutical companies.
Companies with over EUR 30 million in annual revenues are already about to be subjected to an increased tax rate, so the latest plan will bite further into their profits. “This is a temporary measure for two years” explained Fico, without any details of when the extra tax might be introduced or the system of calculating it, but the specifics are expected to come in the following weeks.
An article in today’s daily SME points to how Fico’s plan is very similar to those that Hungarian PM Viktor Orban introduced. In Hungary, operators pay between 2.5 to 6.5% from their annual revenues, while for energy companies the rate is 0.3 to 1.05%, being set depending on the level of profits. Budapest also levies this tax from insurance companies and security brokers, with SME citing analyst Markéta Šichtařová from the company Next Finance as saying “Those taxes were also part of the mosaic that destroyed the credit of Hungary abroad and in Brussels”.
What about all the off-shore corporations, owned and sometimes even opporated from Slovakia with TAX exclusions?? I would also like to see what is going to happen with all the Asian Corporations planning on building a little city of their own between BA and Trnava out in Senec? Will they get the 15 year tax break like US Steel, all the Foreign IT companies and all the manufacturers did the past 15 years? The cost of living in Slovakia is higher than any place I have been in the EU. The housing prices, food, and goods are rediculous. For a country with an average income of only 500EUR per month, how can anyone afford to live? The Greeks are just laughing their way to the EU Bank doors!
Oh so true!
mmm!, you just watch, i bet Benta, and 14u & 14me (j&T), and other such dark wizards, will post the lowest profits for years then, or are they excluded from the fat tax?