A series of tax laws proposed by the government that MPs are going to discuss today actually reduce purchasing power of citizens, whereas a new great attack on the industry is going to happen as well, CdM interlocutors claim. They assess that it’s unacceptable that the government is trying to collect budget revenues through citizens, all that because of the uncontrolled public spending.
Although Montenegro records record-breaking prices which have been higher than in many much more developed countries of the European Union, the government announced imposing a levy on fizzy drinks and sugary products. And they also plan to tax tobacco.
The President of the Montenegrin Association of Employers and economic observer, Vasilije Kostic, considers that the announced measures would make sense if the standard of living in the country is high.
“However, it’s not the case in Montenegro, as we have a low level of personal spendings and it’s about essential products that the majority of citizens can afford, so it looks kinda grotesque when the government justifies it by mentioning alignment with the EU directives. Therefore, the introduction of the measures in our country is not the need to harmonize with the EU legislation (at least not now and not immediately) as they want to show us, but to be able to fund the uncontrolled public spending,” Mr Kostic says.
From the perspective of politicians, the outgoing Government of Montenegro, instead of helping citizens who have been paying much more for goods and services, decided to additionally increase inflation with the afore-mentioned measures.
