By: Moja-Dolenjska
“I think the draft coalition agreement is economically harmful. Not just for the economy, but for the people as well. There are a lot of things in it that will require a lot of extra resources.”
“There are a lot of predictions of some new taxes, which in my opinion are not well thought out and which will affect the stratum of the population that elected this government, that is, the middle class. In the long run, however, this may even be fine, as this is a very transparent prediction of what the Levica party has been advocating in recent years, and it may mean that people will feel on their own that these are not policies they would want to vote again.” This is what economist and former Minister of Finance Dr Janez Šušteršič told Siol.net about the draft of coalition’s contract between Robert Golob (Gibanje Svoboda), Luka Mesec (Levica), and Tanja Fajon (SD).
He went on to say that there should be less talk and more thinking and solutions for 2023 and 2024. “Economically, I find the most problematic forecasts for much higher public spending on a range of areas and reckless taxation.”
“Taxing property in the way it is proposed is something that can be very damaging because it will only tell people that money needs to be wasted, not saved or invested.”
“New tax forecasts will hit the middle class the hardest. Raising the minimum wage is an empty promise, it has been rising all the time, and is already very high, so raising it to 800 euros does not seem so dramatic.” At the same time, he pointed out that we have a law according to which the minimum wage is harmonised with the growth of consumer prices, and that the minimum wage will soon be at this amount according to this law.
Regarding the new candidate for finance minister Klemen Boštjančič, the current head of the Sava management board, Šušteršič said that he “knows nothing about public finances”.
“It is easy to promise, but then they will come to terms with it and will devour many of the promises. That will be the case, otherwise it will not be possible. There was clearly no one in these negotiations who was thinking about public finances.”