The protest of employers from Canton Sarajevo (CS) due to the increase in the amount of utility taxes from 500 to 2.000 percent has again raised the issue of the burden on the economy of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) through parafiscal levies.
Many of these levies, just like tributes to the Ottoman empire (harac), but in the 21st century, have no purpose, other than to fill the budget and finance the costs of cumbersome administration at all levels, Avaz writes.
Tax amount
Economic analyst Faruk Hadzic explains that, according to the new law, municipalities can now independently determine the number of fees for a prominent company, but wonders whether it is justified to take money for which no service is provided.
”Parafiscal levies are generally a great burden for our economy, as shown by the data that 679.7 million BAM were collected last year in the Federation of BiH (FBiH) on the basis of various taxes and fees. Namely, there are more than 3.400 different parafiscal levies at all levels of government in BiH. Budgets are now fuller than ever, so the abolition of these taxes would not lead to problems in filling the budget of a municipality,” mentioned Hadzic.
Also, he added that the advantage of the provisions according to which local communities can independently determine the amount of the fee for a prominent company is that they can no longer ask for a justification that someone else did it and that all other municipalities would follow the example of their abolition.
They take money
Economic analyst Igor Gavran noted that the BiH Foreign Trade Chamber once tried to identify all the levies on the economy.
”The conclusion was that, simply, no one has complete records anywhere, let alone a logical connection or any rule as to why all these levies exist, except to take the money and fill budgets. Many things are pointless, but, for example, meaningless fees for masts for prominent flags are known,” Gavran stressed.
PR exhibitions
The overall result is a suicide, Gavran added, as the economy is falling and investors are ignoring us.
And for Sarajevo, it is especially hypocritical and rude that the government, which perhaps emphasizes its mission of “setting an example to the whole state” more than everyone else, at the local level, introduces abnormal taxes to the economy, and reduces its mostly fictitious support to PR exhibitions – says Gavran.
E.Dz.
