At today’s session, the council of the Estonian Center Party adopted a statement according to which the car tax planned by the Reform Party-led government must be canceled and instead a tax should be introduced for banks making huge profits.
“Due to the government’s short-sighted and incompetent economic policy, our economy is falling for the second year in a row, but at the same time the Estonian banking sector has enjoyed exceptional profitability – last year the banks operating here earned nearly one billion euros in revenue,” said Andrei Korobeinik, a member of the party’s board and member of the Riigikogu.
The statement states that an Estonian resident pays considerably more to his bank than a Swedish client of the same bank, and this increases the financial burden of citizens, deepens social inequality and limits the availability of financial services. “In the context of the state budget, the profit of the banks is equal to almost three percent, which in turn is comparable to our defense expenses,” compared Andrei Korobeinik. “At the same time, the state lacks funds for important investments, such as salary increases for teachers or lifeguards, road construction and medicine. This is an unacceptable situation and a solution must be found.”
The positive example of Lithuania proves that temporary taxation aimed at the banking sector is possible and does not cause a negative impact on the business environment, the statement emphasizes. “The banking sector tax could be 50% of profit and be valid for three years, during which the Estonian state could develop a permanent taxation scheme. This would help alleviate economic hardship while supporting social and economic investment. At the same time, the adoption of this measure would make it possible to abandon the intention of the car tax, which is unfair, first of all, to residents of lower incomes and rural areas,” said Andrei Korobeinik.
