Taxpayer association: salaries, not new laws behind tax bonanza
The Taxpayer Association said one change to tax law should be praised, but said last year's good tax receipts were due to salary increases.
The association praised one of the two changes - the worker register implemented by the Tax Board last summer. But it said the new requirement to report all business transactions over 1,000 euros to authorities created more stress than benefit.
Lasse Lehis, a board member at the association, said the 8.2 percent increase in tax rakings last year was due to the five-percent average increase in salaries.
He said people had more disposable income and purchased more, further increasing the tax intake.
Lehis said the 1,000-euro requirement was the wrong path as it has put more stress on every taxpayer – to the small and the large, to those who belong to a risk group and to those who have always been good taxpayers.
The Tax Board has recently announced more changes, with Lehis saying the end of the year should be more calm as there is little left to change.
He said businesses are now fearing for the security of all the data they have to hand over to the tax authorities. "We do not know what the Tax Board will do with all the information entered on VAT returns. We have serious concerns that the data could leak,“ he said.
Editor: J.M. Laats