Govt Will Not Propose Tax on Sugary Drinks

The government had hoped to secure EUR 4.7m a year through a tax on drinks with added sugar or sweeteners, but faced fierce opposition from businesses, especially the food and drinks sector.

Among the measures planned were also higher greenhouse emission taxes and higher energy contributions, but it is unclear whether the coalition decided to give an ear to the economy and scrap these too.

The PM's office would not specify which measures remain on the table or how it will substitute those scrapped, saying only that the coalition is agreed on the supplementary budget for 2015.

It also said that the proposal would be debated and endorsed by the government on Thursday, which means it will be submitted to parliament this year rather than in January as previously planned.

The budget deficit in the currently valid proposal is planned at 2.4% of GDP, but Finance Minister Dušan Mramor warned in early October that it could increase to 5% of GDP unless extra measures were taken.

As the upper limit of acceptable deficit Mramor cited EUR 1.2bn or 2.7% of GDP. But to achieve that figure, revenue would have to be increased by EUR 100m and expenditure slashed by EUR 600m.

To raise the revenue, the minister proposed a hike in financial services and insurance tax to offset the loss of revenue as the tax on total assets of banks expires this year.

Source: SloveniaTimes