2 hours agoOnly the rich benefited from pardoning debts
Periskopi(8 years ago)
(8 years ago)In 2015, some fiscal reforms were made in Kosovo, a new fiscal package was developed, part of which was the Law on Personal Future Taxation, the Law for Taxation on the Orders of Corporations, and the Law for Taxing on Added Value, as its implementation began in September. Riesi [...]
Resie with this new fiscal package was the first-time application in Kosovo of the State Value Tax at two levels -- standard rate of 18 per cent and reduced by 8 per cent with the aim of benefiting family baskets.
At the government meeting on September 2nd 2015, a day after the introduction of the fiscal package, former Prime Minister Isa Mustafa had not only mentioned business and economic benefits.
“From the fiscal package, namely lowering VAT thresholds, from 16 to 8 percent, benefits all citizens or family baskets of citizens who have low incomes and middle income”, Mustafa said.
The prime minister then demonstrated the conviction that the package protects the standard of living.
The “does not benefit those who have high incomes, because the structure of consumer goods is one that is destined to benefit those who have low and middle incomes in order to protect the standard of living, families and citizens, and also benefits business”, he said.
But data stemming from a Gazeta Life Test in Kosovo showed that fiscal package has not only failed to lower prices, but may have increased them. In November 2016, the GAP Institute also came up with a publication-analysis saying the new State of TVS is making citizens poor.
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Nor was the forgiveness of debts to the poor. The Law to Forgive Debts benefited those who had high incomes, thus leaving social cases in endless debt.
But in September 2015, the Law on Forgiveness of Debt became effective. According to this law, Kosovo citizens could pay off their debt by the end of 2008, provided that from 2009 to late 2014, they fulfilled their obligations.
Restricting the forgiveness of debts seems to have influenced low - income families to be just observers of the forgiveness of others ' debts.
The GAP Institute said that the Law to Forgive Debts has benefited high-income people, but not even social cases, while recommending the Government of Kosovo to automatize debts for social cases.
The GAP institute report reportedly total debt by the end of 2008 was 584m euros.
According to GAP, about 56 per cent of debts due to the period have been forgiven by the end of 2008, and about 30 per cent of the debt due to 2009 to 2014 has been invested.
Also, at the conference, it was said that due to the exact unreporting, the figures for debt forgiveness and remaining ones are still unknown.
Deputy Finance Minister Fatmir Gashi said the Law on Forgiving Debt has not enabled them to benefit social cases.
“Lagji has been linked in two phases, the phase of full debt write-off by 2008, and has been the condition for obligations to be carried out from 1 January 2009 to 31.12.2014. This is the problem that social cases cannot pay off these debts and that they cannot get that benefits for eliminating debts by 31.12.2008”, Gashi said.
Gashi said there should be an analysis to see how social cases concerning debts can be helped.
The newspaper Life in Kosovo has analysed the data of the Statistics Agency of Kosovo, according to which by 2016 there are 26 thousand and 302 families receiving social assistance.
This number has increased to 359 more families than 2015, when the number of poor families was 25 thousand and 943.
Pristina's regime numbers more poor families -- over 7 thousand and 500 families, later ranking the Mitrovica region over 5 thousand and 900 families, while in other areas of Kosovo the number of households assisted by the state are 2 to 3 thousand households. /Cashho. com/
