Konjević’s department wants to prevent the reduction of VAT from 19 to 7 per cent for catering services in hotels of high category.
“Instead of dealing with farmers, seeking funds to help them in this difficult times when illness destroyed farms and livestock, or at least address the nation about it, he is pursuing a matter that won’t even be on the table until 2018.. So the only thing to conclude from his public appearances is that the minister, rather than engage is serious business, only wants for political points”, said Radulovic for Dnevne Novine daily.
He added that, if Konjevic is really so interested in the VAT, he would need look no further than the initiative of the Montenegrin Tourist Association for reducing VAT to seven percent for all enterprises in the tourism industry, with analysis of the effects of such a move.
“But his Ministry rejected this initiative as well. My opinion is that he did not even look at our proposal and related study. We hope that, after the October elections, the Ministry of Finance will be headed by people who want to deal with policy development and not empty politics, who will understand and accept that it is good for Montenegro to reduce its VAT rate, and that this will, hopefully within five years, lead to an appreciable inflow of funds in the budget”, said Radulovic, adding that the comparative experiences of France, Spain, Italy and Croatia, which have accepted this model, confirm the validity of such solutions.
Konjević: A nonsensical DPS amendment
Finance Minister Rasko Konjevic said yesterday that he signed the initiative to review the constitutionality of the provision to reduce VAT on catering services in hotels of high category, because, it is “a nonsensical amendment of DPS MPs”.
“Through this amendment, you want to reduce taxes for owners of individual hotels, and you have 770 million tax debt. This provision cannot be implemented because it is contrary to the principles of the VAT system, which binds the taxpayer, and not the place where the service is provided. The amendment also proposes reduction of VAT on alcoholic drinks, which is contrary to the directives of the European Union”, said Konjevic.
