Czech president approves VAT raising package

PRAGUE. December 22. KAZINFORM Czech President Vaclav Klaus Friday signed the government's tax package that the Chamber of Deputies passed on Wednesday, and the package raises the VAT rates by 1 percent to 15 and 21 percent, said Presidential Office spokesman Radim Ochvat, Xinhua reported.
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The package of 16 laws introduces 7-percent taxation for people with high incomes, and cancels tax reliefs for working pensioners. Besides, the tax on the transfer of property will be increased and health insurance caps will be lifted.

Klaus has said earlier that he disliked having to sign the crucial legislation at the last moment. He said in doing so, the government had presented him with a fait accompli and called it an "evil diktat to the president."

The three-party coalition government was backed by 102 members of the Chamber of Deputies to pass the package.

The tax changes were criticized by the opposition. Social Democrat leader Bohuslav Sobotka pointed to the presumed increase in prices due to the one-percent VAT rise.

Martin Divis, an analyst from PricewaterhouseCoopers Czech Republic, said the VAT rise would drain some 1,000 crowns (52.3 U.S. dollars) from an average family in the Czech Republic annually.

 

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