While the MTA said this week it hoped to be able to monitor all bank accounts, in the interest of combating tax evasion, money laundering and other crimes, the ministry says that this change will be confined to business accounts only.

The Ministry of Finance aims to collect an estimated additional €40 million in tax revenues over four years, via the streamlining in any case.

Evelyn Liivamägi (pictured), undersecretary at the Ministry of Finance, told AK: "This concept does not cover individuals' bank accounts, and we are not talking about detailed transaction data but only aggregated tax revenue information over a certain period."

Liivamägi stressed the €40 million, which would be equally divided across the four years, ie. €10 million per year, is purely an estimate at this stage.

The cost of implementing the measure is not yet clear, however.

The initial proposal from the MTA sought automatic access to both corporate and individual bank accounts.

However, the Ministry of Finance has ruled out private individuals from the plan, following significant public backlash.

Arto Aas, head of the Estonian Employers' Confederation (Tööandjate keskliit), noted that the business community was alarmed by the proposal, even as tax collection needs to be made more effective.

Aas said;"Businesses are concerned about whether such rights are necessary for a supervisory authority and if this goes too far – we have business freedoms, banking secrecy, and individual freedoms. These rights must be balanced with the rights of entrepreneurs. This is a point of discussion, but the need for fair competition is understandable."

Attorney at law and legal scholar Carri Ginter said he sees the potential expansion of the tax authority's rights as indicative of the state's increasing intrusion into people's lives.

Ginter told AK: "In Estonia, there is a broader movement which could be called 'Inviting the state into our bedroom.' We have added a large number of cameras, and we still face the issue of mobile phone metadata.

"Despite the Supreme Court's ruling years ago that this provision grossly violates our human rights and must be removed from our legal system, the provision remains, and data collection continues," the lawyer added.

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