The party believes Slovenia has the resources and expertise to rescue itself, while it lacks the politics to successfully use them, SD officials told a news conference in Ljubljana on Thursday.
They are proposing measures to deal with Slovenia's three key problems at the moment - a debt crisis, recession and high structural government deficit. The party wants to direct the EUR 2bn in annual net savings into tackling the debt crisis, while curbing their outflow into tax havens. They also propose a change in economic policy and a temporary raise in VAT. The measures have been drawn up by former Finance Minister Franc Križanič and discussed by the party presidency, while the party is now seeking broader support. SD president Igor Lukšič said the goal was for Slovenia to remain a sovereign and democratic country whose main concern would be the quality of life of all its citizens.
All of Slovenia's resources must be put into solving the current problems, Lukšič said adding that a sell-off of assets was "out of the question". The proposals include a 100% break on corporate income tax and personal income tax for investments into shares of Slovenian systemic banks, insurance companies and state bonds. The SD proposes fighting recession through recapitalisation of the country's largest two banks, stimulating investments in infrastructure by public-private partnerships, and changing the fiscal policy to shift back to financing development. The structural deficit would be tackled through pension reform, better tax discipline, a special crisis tax in the form of three percentage point increase in both VAT rates and higher taxation of the wealthy.
SOURCE: The Slovenia Times
