Ministry of Economy wants to reduce taxes on wages

The Ministry of Economy of Serbia is seeking a solution for the reduction of taxes on wages in order to make the operations of the economy sector easier, State Secretary in the Ministry of Economy Dragijana Radonjic-Petrovic announced on Wednesday.

She said at the presentation of the programme of Serbia's Development Fund in Bujanovac that taxes paid to the state currently amounted to 64% of the wage, which was a much too heavy burden for employers.

- That is one of the reasons why a large number of employees in Serbia are not registered. We are aware that the reduction of taxes on wages would lead to a decrease in the number of unemployed people and pensions for a big number of people, which is why we are seriously working on a solution to this problem - said Ms. Radonjic-Petrovic.

As she pointed out, the Ministry of Economy is also working on a register of disqualified persons, of which aim is to prevent the owner and directors who have led their companies to insolvency or bankruptcy from opening a new company.

- That register will contain several degrees of disqualification and it will help businessmen have a better insight into who their business partners are because there are often situations where a person makes huge debts, then closes the company and opens a new one - said Ms. Radonjic-Petrovic.

Sladjana Backovic, director of the Development Fund of Serbia, said that interests on the loans of the Fund for the territory of Bujanovac were the lowest in Serbia and that they ranged between 1 and 3 percent on annual basis because that municipality was among the most underdeveloped ones in Serbia.

- Loans for small and medium-sized enterprises that the Fund grants are extremely favorable, but we do not receive much applications from Bujanovac because businessmen are not well-informed, there are no good projects and property relations are not appropriately regulated, which makes mortgage operations impossible - she said.

Ms. Backovic said that the Development Fund was granting loans with a repayment period of up to five years and the grace period of one year.