Finance Ministry proposes overhaul of tax-exemption system

In another interview with Vaclav Moravec, the Deputy Finance Minister, Ivan Fuksa, said that he was planning to review the system of tax exemptions in the Czech Republic. Mr. Fuksa wants to annul around 120 of the country's 400 or so tax exemptions, most controversially, the tax exemptions that Czech mortgage owners currently enjoy. Mr. Fuksa told Czech Television that he was trying to systematize a chaotic tax-exemption structure, citing zoos, betting-shops and trade unions as organizations currently experiencing 'nonsensical' tax-breaks. But the opposition Social Democrats are against the proposed reforms, saying that mortgage owners are being stung twice - firstly by a rise in VAT, which has, they calculate, put the price of mortgages up by around 4%, and then by this proposal to end tax exemptions on mortgages. Mr. Fuksa responds that the details of the proposal are still to be worked out, but that he hopes to bring a bill to parliament by the end of this year.