Social Democrats for end of “super-gross wage” but pooh-pooh 15% income tax

Junior coalition partners the Social Democrats are in favour of the abolition of what is called the “super-gross wage”, chairman Jan Hamáček said on Tuesday. However, such a move would require the state finding increased revenues elsewhere and the Social Democrats may call for a bank tax. Coalition leaders ANO previously rejected that idea.

Prime Minister Andrej Babiš of ANO has pushed for the ending of the super-gross wage and the reduction of personal income tax to 15 percent. However, Social Democrats leader Hamáček says this is unrealistic.

The super-gross wage is the sum of an employee’s gross salary, plus social and health insurance premiums. It has been the base for calculating employee income tax since 2008.