ZAGREB, April 21, 2018 - The leader of the Croatian People's Party (HNS) Ivan Vrdoljak said on Saturday that he expected the Finance Ministry to reduce tax pressure and announced talks with the government on the advantages of a vertical reduction of tax burdens or a horizontal decrease of Value Added Tax (VAT) by one or two percent.
Vrdoljak underscored that the first-ever budget surplus could result only in further tax breaks that will stimulate further economic growth and the continuation of all reform processes. "The second phase of taxation reforms has to especially relieve labour so that we can open new jobs. Tax reliefs on labour and income would achieve a lot more than a horizontal reduction of VAT. However, I am not ruling this out either. VAT needs to be reduced in those industries where we expect growth, for example, creative industries," Vrdoljak said.
Vrdoljak claims that talks need to be opened on amending the election law with regard to preferential votes. "I will never say that what we have today is perfect when it could be better. In our opinion, preferential votes are an advantage. The HNS was the first to launch the idea of preferential votes in the Social Democratic Party (SDP)-led government. When that did occur, we finally saw what the HNS's power was. In the first election, we won 100,000 votes and in the second election we were given 130,000 votes. Each preferential system suits our party but I am not sure whether it will suit Croatian society, Vrdoljak said.
Asked about appeals lodged regarding the procurement process for the Pelješac Bridge, Vrdoljak said that if the procedure was conducted legally and the price was lower and if that project is to go ahead then that should happen. Croatia's interests must always come before Austria's, but also before Russia's or America's in the case of the INA. Their interest is welcome if it coincides with ours, he said.
