Finance minister Ivan Miklos says the former government was overly generous when handing out CO2 emission quotas to certain companies for the 2008 – 2012 period, with the grand total carrying a value of EUR 660 million.
As Miklos believes that the generosity was highly disadvantageous for the state, he has decided to slap a special new tax on the surplus emission quotas, which will see them taxed to 80% of the value in the 2011-2012 period. As an example, Miklos pointed to Mondi SCP, which got an emission quota of 391,000 tons, which is double what it needed.
The move should see the country rake back in around EUR 150 million, which, as Miklos pointed out, should produce income for the state budget that will cover the losses caused by the previous Robert Fico government not acting in the public interest. Miklos claims the former government had acted in favour of certain private companies. The special tax will be levied from 133 companies.
Miklos also announced that the ministry might be filing charges if it ascertains that a crime was committed.
In response to the allegations, former PM Fico said that Ivan Miklos was talking rubbish. He also pointed out that the move could prevent companies from investing into environmental projects, while not ruling out his party’s support for the proposal. “You know our opinion about additional taxation of banks and large companies; we have no problem with it. I am not saying that we will not support the proposal, but I deny Miklos’ accusations” Fico concluded.
[…] Slovakia With Legal Action The legislation introduced in November 2011 by finance minister Ivan Miklos to levy an additional tax on CO2 emissions didn’t go down very well with big companies in Slovakia, and now U.S. Steel Slovakia is […]