Ratas: Government should be able to borrow to invest
New Center Party chairman and potential future prime minister Jüri Ratas said in an interview with daily Päevaleht published on Wednesday that it was not right that the government couldn’t borrow money to make necessary investments.
“In my opinion, it isn’t right that the Estonian state is not allowed to borrow to invest. To get the economy going again, you have to invest in the business environment, and in this, the input of the state has to be bigger,” Ratas told Eesti Päevaleht.
Ratas said that if he were to form the next government, its activity when it comes to the economy and business would increase, and the government would venture out to find new solutions to key problems. These, according to Ratas, could be support for businesses, and different tax policy approaches.
“There could be certain exemptions in the business landscape. For instance, in the shipping sector people have said that ships should be brought back under the Estonian flag. We should look at what our competitors – our neighboring countries – are doing,” Ratas said.
Commenting on the ongoing talks with other parties to form a new coalition, Ratas said that there was no agreement in terms of tax policy so far.
One of the government’s aims could be to relieve the tax burden on low-income earners, but it was too early to discuss this in detail, Ratas added.
Tsahkna: Compromising on tax policy out of the question
Chairman of the Pro Patria and Res Publica Union (IRL), Margus Tsahkna, told ERR on Tuesday evening that his party wouldn’t sign a coalition agreement that included the introduction of a progressive income tax.
At the same time, Tsahkna opined that IRL and the Center Party had potential for cooperation in matters of the economy, and in other policy areas as well.
Editor: Editor: Dario Cavegn
Source: BNS, ERR