The Association of Carriers in International and Inter-Entity Road Transport of Passengers under the Foreign Trade Chamber of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) will address the Council of Ministers of BiH and the Steering Board of the Indirect Taxation Authority (ITA) of BiH with a request to abolish excise duties, tolls for highway construction, and to introduce a differentiated VAT rate for passenger transport.
Dejan Mijic, President of the Board of the Association of Carriers in International and Inter-Entity Road Transport, said after the meeting of the association with members of the ITA BiH that a concept of the request for abolition of excise duties paid by carriers when purchasing fuel for buses in the amount of 30 pfennigs per liter of fuel, was created, BHRT writes.
Mijic also explained that the carriers are demanding the abolition of the toll that is charged for the construction of highways because most passenger transport vehicles do not use highways.
“This would put us in a more favorable position for the work and business of our companies, as well as for reducing the price of tickets for passengers,” emphasized Mijic.
Also, he stated that the carriers suffered huge losses due to the coronavirus pandemic and that they are now suffering losses due to the increase in the price of oil and gas.
“We are suffering huge losses and the survival of these companies is simply being called into question,” Mijic said, adding that this would cause greater consequences for the BiH economy.
Mijic told that the losses of companies operating in this sector are in the millions due to the general situation in the world, but that the measures implemented by the entity governments have made business easier.
“In the Federation of BiH (FBiH), these measures are still in force. We have sent a request to the Government of the Republika Srpska (RS) to approve a new tranche of aid in the form of taxes and contributions for a certain number of months,” Mijic noted.
He mentioned that it is disastrous that the development in this sector has been stopped in the last two years, and that the situation has reached the point that the vehicles are getting older and that more investments in them are needed.
E.Dz.
