Posted on 10/25/2009 7:31:41 PM PDT by Bokababe
BELGRADE -- The average highest income tax rate in EU countries is almost double that of Serbia, Belgrade daily Blic writes.
At the same time, a lower rate is applied only in Bulgaria, Romania, Slovakia, and the Czech Republic.
According to valid legislation, a Serbian citizen will pay about EUR 146,000 to the state out of each million they earn – half the figure that a Cypriot citizen would pay in taxes.
In Denmark, the number would reach over half a million euros, says the newspaper.
Saša Radulović, an independent investment consultant who has worked in Germany, Canada and the United States, believes that progressive taxing is an achievement of civilized society "equal to human rights and abolition of capital punishment".
"I've never paid lower taxes than I do in Serbia. Compared to Germany, Canada and the U.S., Serbia is a tax paradise to me," said Radulović.
"Here, the more you earn, the lower your taxes get, while property taxes are almost negligible. This is not so in a single successful society," he continued, and explained that progressive taxing means there is the lowest figure exempt from taxing, which amounts to 10,000 dollars in Canada.
"The tax rate to this figure is literally zero, while here, even salaries of EUR 150-200 are being taxed. A chance for a fundamental tax reform was missed in 2001, when a law was passed that virtually brought nothing new to the policy of taxing citizens' income. And this suits only those who are making profit off the transition," Radulović warned.
The newspaper also writes that according to the Tax Administration data, there were 18,727 persons who earned over RSD 1.64mn annually in 2007, while last year the number was 16,500.
Only ten percent of the budget is filled by taxing the high earners, while OECD countries report an average of 25 percent of budget revenues collected in this way.
According to available information, Serbia's richest citizen made EUR 3.3mn in 2007, and paid about half a million in taxes – three times less the sum they would have, for example, paid in Austria.
This is marxist propaganda.
The commie who wrote this drivel convienently left out the GDP growth of Serbia.
2005 - 6.3% GDP growth
2006 - 5.8% GDP growth
2007 - 7.5% GDP growth
2008 - 8.7% GDP growth
Since their dissolution with Yugoslavia, they have become one of the more modern, 1st-world countries in the Balkans.
Economies to invest in.
Well there’s all kinds of idiots out there professing knowlege of “investments” and “advising”. If he’s an investment advisor, I’d like to see what is the rate of return his clients made last year...
Yes, let’s also compare Direct Foreign Investment, business startups, entrepreneurial activity, and unemployment rates.
Commies don’t care about any of this. They want everybody be equally poor and miserable; if a single person has more than any other, they are miserable.
Pack the bags Honey, get the kids. We’re headed to Serbia!
Yeah I was thinking that this guy is a lunatic or a socialist.
LOL!
The down side is that the current president of Serbia was handpicked and trained by McCain's foreign version of ACORN -- the IRI. It's driving them toward the EU and socialism. So how long that low tax scheme lasts is anyone's guess.
On the other hand, Serbs have withstood 400 years of Muslim domination, survived Austrian arrogance (WWI), German invasion & mass genocide (WWII), 60 years of communism, the 1999 NATO Bombing -- and they still keep on ticking, so who the hell knows?
This fluffy EU BS may be just another costume that they wear until they have a reason to toss it off, no matter who thinks they are pulling the strings.
Yet, if I were a millionaire, I'd certainly consider it -- unfortunately, that was last year.
It’s driving them toward the EU and socialism.
This piece doesn’t give a complete picture.
It must cover all the taxes, including excise ones (like petrol)and mandatory insurance payments (pension, unemployment, medical insurance)
Socialists are generally lunatics.
Rather surprisingly -- that isn't really the case. Slovenia has been bending over backwards the last couple years actually trying to encourage Serbia to get into the EU -- so much so that Croatia even got jealous over it. Germany and Austria see greater control over a Serbia in the EU than outside it.
The lone holdout to throwing out the welcome mat to Serbia has been the Netherlands who want Mladic's head on a plate first, and will settle for nothing less.
Back in 2002, the Dutch government fell over a report on the behavior of the Dutch government and Dutch soldiers re Srebrenica. The Dutch still have an axe to grind against the Serbs for their government falling, even though that same report said that Serbia proper had nothing to do with it.
As for what Serbia wants, it's a toss up -- the government and the younger people want to be in the EU. The older people are more wary and look toward Russia.
kronos77 ca answer this far better than I can -- I have friends in Serbia, but I don't live there and kronos does.
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