Government planning to decide Tuesday morning on how businesses will be taxed
The government plans at a meeting Tuesday morning to hammer out exactly how businesses will be taxed in Estonia.
Prime Minister Kristen Michal (Reform) told ERR: "The government will tomorrow morning (Tuesday – ed.) convene to review and look over the latest feedback from the Ministry of Finance."
"We have consulted with market participants, the Bank of Estonia, and many others. Following this, we will make the decisions and provide explanations," the prime minister continued.
When talking about a communique from major businesspeople in Estonia which urged the government to borrow more, Michal said that while the state's loan volume could rise, borrowing will not be a cure-all for the problems facing Estonia.
"In this, cuts are very necessary. Loans come with interest repayments. Borrowing is more costly, and will not solve Estonia's problems," Michal wen ton.
Following a coalition council meeting Monday, government members told ERR the hope is the final decisions will be made Tuesday morning.
Interior Minister Lauri Läänemet (SDE) said that a cabinet session will convene today, Tuesday.
"Right now, we are still discussing the different impacts of the taxes and looking for a solution which will minimize the effects of the defense tax, particularly that portion affecting businesses, on economic growth," the minister said.
Eesti 200 chair and Education Minister Kristina Kallas added: "There is no more room for delay. The cabinet session starts at 9 a.m., and we must make the decisions there."
Owners and executives of some of Estonia's largest companies drafted a letter to the prime minister and the minister of finance in which they called for the state to abandon the additional taxation on inputs such as capital, assets, energy and labor.
Doing so poses a threat to the country's competitiveness, they wrote, adding that financing the necessary defense expenditures in the changed security situation could better be achieved via borrowing.
SDE, Eesti 200 prefer profit tax to tax on property
The Social Democrats (SDE) Eesti 200 favor profit taxation on businesses over a property tax.
Talking to "Aktuaalne kaamera," Läänemets noted that businesses "have pointed out that wealth and the accumulation of wealth at the top should be taxed the most when we talk about this security tax," adding that the numbers "could be significantly higher, given how much wealth is concentrated in the hands of a very small proportion of society."
The profit tax could be higher than the 2 percent set out in the coalition agreement, SDE believes.
While Eesti 200 does not concur with upping the profit tax rate, according to Kallas there are more questions than answers when it comes to a property tax, which would be " complicated," while "assessing its impact is even more difficult."
SDE has said they are only willing to consider a property tax if unions agree to raise the minimum wage to the level the party wants, which would not have happened ahead of Tuesday's meeting.
The prime minister declined to specify his party's preferences, adding that the scale of the national security tax is less key than ensuring that it impacts as lightly as possible on economic growth
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Editor: Andrew Whyte, Aleksander Krjukov, Iida-Mai Einmaa