Articles

The \"Flat Tax Era\" in Slovakia came to a definite end on 1st January 2013. Corporate tax rate of 23% (highest in the whole Central and East European Countries region by the way) became valid instead of the 19% rate. This was considered to be the last nail in the flat tax coffin.

On June 21, BNB announced that it will fulfill its mission at CCB within a month, by July 21. By then it promises that CCB will have either a new ownership structure or a strategic investor, or else be taken by the only state-owned Bulgarian Development Bank (BDB, with about 1% market share).

Greeks are preparing a new emission of their bonds. Although only three years but they should bring 2.5-3 billion euro to the country.

Here we go again, straight into the old debate as to from what the poor benefit more: growth or redistribution. It has been rekindled by the near simultaneous appearance of two books written by Indian economists.

The EU is no longer the abstraction it was in the beginning of the crisis. For many Europeans the crisis turned the Euro from a convenience into an issue, the Greek – from exotic and hospitable people into lazy parasites, and the English – from key allies into awkward partners.

INESS released an English version of The 2014 Universe of Public Expenditures, a poster with a graphical representation of all public expenditures financed by taxes and contributions. It enables one to understand the relationships among the individual items of public administration.

Ukraine shows that, when pressure is applied, Potemkin institutions reveal themselves for what they really are. The lessons for countries in the neighborhood, most of all Russia, should be apparent, as, although there are major differences between Ukraine and its anxious neighbor, at the most fundamental levels, the institutional stagnation is the same.

Entrepreneurs in Slovakia have not the very best reputation. In media they usually appear in connection with negative matters, so that the publicity wrongly divides them just into two categories: those who stole money during the privatization and those who are stealing today by public procurement.

Continual restriction of economic and civil liberties may have fatal consequences. Even though we can freely choose to live in an unfree society, we have to be aware of the price we will eventually pay for it.

On June 27, 2014, Petro Poroshenko, newly elected President of Ukraine, will sign the economic part of the Association Agreement with the EU, political part of which was signed in March 2014. Same day Georgia and Moldova will also sign the Association Agreements with the EU.