Surcharges for work during the national holidays of May 8 and September 15, which were usually days of rest, will cost the state about ten million euros. Minister of Finance Ladislav Kamenický (Smer-SD) stated this in the Sunday discussion program of Joj 24 Politika 24 television.
- Additional payments for work during the holidays of May 8 and September 15 will reach approximately ten million euros.
- By canceling public holidays, employees of the state administration gained the right to additional payments for work.
- Ladislav Kamenický rejected the idea of leaving the position of Minister of Finance of the government.
- The Constitutional Court of the Slovak Republic is currently reviewing the decision on the disputed law on the debt brake.
- A reduction of VAT by one percent would cause a shortfall in the budget of over four hundred million euros.
“For the employer, working on the days that were previously a working holiday should bring some profit. Therefore, he should be willing to pay the extra fees. It will also cost the state something. Yes, it will cost, we are talking about a sum of around ten million euros. On the other hand, we say that when we canceled public holidays for people, they should be entitled, I’m talking about the state administration, to additional payments. When people have more money, they will consume more and the economy will do better,” explained the Minister of Finance.
Kamenický rejected speculations that he should go to the position of governor of the National Bank of Slovakia and that there should be a reconstruction of the government. “I will continue to do my job as finance minister. The only person who can approach me with an offer or anything is the prime minister, because he is the one who determines who will be in the government and who will not be. I will not talk about it at all, I will do my job, I am the Minister of Finance,” he emphasized.
He noted that in connection with the vote of confidence in the government for the law on the debt brake, the decision of the Constitutional Court is awaited. “There is no deadline in the law, we are waiting for the Constitutional Court. The law is not perfect. The problem is that the current law only serves to attack the government. It does not serve what it should serve – to improve public finances. At the moment it is set up in such a way that everyone recognizes that basically many things (in it) are unworkable,” he added.
He indicated the direction of the preparation of notified measures that should support the growth of the economy. “There are four packages. We’re talking about deregulation that helps the business environment. We’re talking about making spending more efficient. There were various suggestions that there might not be an office – either it should be completely abolished or merged or only half of it should be kept. This is one area that does not cost the state budget. And then we have measures that cost the state budget. That is exactly the tax and levy burden,” added Kamenický.
“Regarding the tax and levy matters, we must realize that (reducing value added tax) by one percent the budget costs more than 400 million euros, the reduction of corporate income tax by one percent is 200 million euros. If you reduce the personal income tax, we have some 250 million euros. These are big shortfalls, so we have to decide what the budget is for or what the budget is not for,” added the finance minister.
