The proposal of opposition party Smer-SD to impose a special tax on banning institutions has been shunned by the Ministry of Finance. State secretary with the ministry, Branislav Durajka, said that it was not right to impose penalties on a particular sector without due justification.
The Smer-SD party made the proposal recently as a way of increasing budget revenues, although its leader Robert Fico could not say specifically what level of taxation should be considered. The Ministry of Finance does not see the hole in public finances as justification for levying a tax on the banking sector, said Durajka.
Smer-SD will put its proposal to parliament today, 18 October, and former PM Fico believes that the proceeds from the bank tax could produce about 80% of the revenues projected from price hikes that he claims the government is planning.
Some analysts believe that if the tax were to be pushed through, banks would find ways to pass the burden onto their clients anyway, and so the common people would be the ones to lose out in the end.