The regular session of the House of Representatives of the Federal Parliament is underway in Sarajevo, and the announced agenda includes the Draft Law on Amendments to the Law on Contributions. In front of the building where the Parliament is located, an announced protest of citizens – businessmen, pensioners, workers and other categories – is taking place in parallel. As the organizers of the protest previously stated, their key demands are an increase in minimum pensions, a reduction in taxes and contributions on labor, and the introduction of measures to control the prices of basic foodstuffs.
The organizers of the protest previously stated that they expect a large number of citizens from all parts of the country and called on the authorities to take urgent action to resolve the aforementioned problems.
The announced agenda for the session of the House of Representatives includes the Draft Law on Amendments to the Law on Contributions, which was established by the Government of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The proposed legal solution reduces the aggregate contribution rate by 13.25 percent, or five and a half index points, or from 41.5 percent to 36 percent. Namely, the rate of contributions for pension and disability insurance at the expense of the employer is reduced by three and a half index points, as well as the rate of contributions for health insurance at the expense of the employer by two index points, stated the Government of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, as the proposer.
The Government also explains that the proposed amendments are part of a set of fiscal measures that, based on its work programs, it plans to implement, and this especially applies to the new laws on contributions and income tax.
The proposer cites as reasons for enacting the law on contributions the relief of the economy and the reduction of the cost of salaries, especially considering employers who will have higher costs in 2025 due to payments in accordance with the Decision on the Minimum Wage.
At the same time, the proposed amendments fully implement the judgment of the Constitutional Court of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina of March 21, 2023.
It is proposed that the law enter into force the day after its publication in the Official Gazette of the Federation of BiH and that its implementation begin on July 1, 2025. The draft of this law was also considered and adopted at the session of the Economic and Social Council, and the Government proposed that the Parliament consider it in an abbreviated procedure.
In addition to this act, today’s announced agenda of the House of Representatives also includes the Decision of the Federal Government on the allocation of money to the Solidarity Fund of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina for 2025.
In 2025, 10.2 percent of the total revenues generated from contributions for mandatory health insurance will be allocated to the Solidarity Fund of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Decision states. The remaining 89.8 percent is planned for health insurance institutes. The allocation of 10.2 percent is intended to ensure federal solidarity funds for financing priority vertical health care programs of interest to the Federation of BiH and for providing priority, most complex forms of health care from certain specialist activities on the territory of the Federation of BiH.
The government made this decision at a session held on 25 February, when it stated that it would inform the Federal Parliament.
The last item on the agenda for today’s session of the House of Representatives was announced as ‘elections and appointments’, which refers, among other things, to the election of a judge of the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina who, according to the rules, should be appointed from the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina to replace Judge Seada Palavrić due to her retirement.
Within this agenda item, the appointment of the Board of Directors of the Radio and Television of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (RTVFBiH) was also proposed, as well as the dismissal of the Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Edina Gabela (Party for Bosnia and Herzegovina), and the appointment of Azra Okić, a member of the Social Democratic Party of BiH, to that position, Federalna writes.
Photo: archive
