finance

Inflation is often referred to as a tax, imposed without parliamentary approval, without legislation and without considering the consequences. Today’s inflation is special: printing money seemed to be pretty much the only way to respond to the pandemic and to finance rising public spending.

Governments have responded to the pandemic by printing money, thus disrupting the usual economic relationships. Financial capital, which was long been regarded as a most-demanded resource, has lost its position to raw materials which in turn have lost to labor force.

Cryptocurrencies are here to stay. As we find ourselves in the digital transformation, accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic, the topic of cryptocurrencies no longer should focus on their stereotypes, or if they are a worthwhile investment but rather on how we can educate and integrate cryptocurrencies into our everyday lives.

Lithuania ranks sixth in the Global Tax Competitiveness Index but it has the least attractive corporate tax regime in the Baltic region. It taxes retained and reinvested profits and applies a personal income tax when dividends are paid out. The effective combined tax rate stands at 27.7%. Estonia and Latvia tax only redistributed profits, at 20%.

The Slovak Minister of Finance claims a tax and contribution burden on self-employed people should be increased in order to be “fair“ in comparison to employees. Why can’t we put a sign of equality between these two statuses? Why doesn’t the term “fair“ make sense?

The tragedy of the commons describes the opposite situation - the property belongs to everyone, but at thesame time to nobody, although they all think that a) the property belongs to nobody, and b) they have full rights to the benefits from the property.

In the year of the COVID-19 crisis, Czechs must endure one more month of work for the state. After June 24, 2020, they will start earning money for themselves. Until then, for 175 days, they only work for the state. This is the least free year since 2000.

There are relatively strict and complex state aid rules applied across the developed world. In the EU database alone, there are no less than 33,000 such cases of reported or investigated state aid cases in the last 20 years.

The Slovak pension, education, and health systems and services should not depend on the government holding power at any given time. Instead, a fundamental political consensus is required. Better than calls from abroad for Slovakia to behave more rationally, the nation itself must come to its senses.

Examples of senseless Slovak economic policy that combines financial and bureaucratic blows always aimed at a different sector of the economy are thick on the ground. One of the most memorable ones is the imposed levy on singular shops and chains, also known as “food tax”.