ZAGREB, Nov 19 (Hina) - The leaders of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) and the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ), Ivica Racan and Ivo Sanader, agreed on Wednesday that the promotion of small and medium-sized businesses and trades was
necessary for the country's economic revival, but they had different positions on whether Croatia needs to introduce a new tax system or keep the present one.
ZAGREB, Nov 19 (Hina) - The leaders of the Social Democratic Party
(SDP) and the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ), Ivica Racan and Ivo
Sanader, agreed on Wednesday that the promotion of small and
medium-sized businesses and trades was necessary for the country's
economic revival, but they had different positions on whether
Croatia needs to introduce a new tax system or keep the present one.
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The two party leaders were speaking at a multimedia election duel,
organised by Obiteljski Radio, Vecernji List daily, and the OTV TV
station.
While Racan insisted that the existing tax system was more socially
just because of more income tax rates, Sanader claimed that the
system introduced by the HDZ-led government had been praised by
European financial experts.
Racan said that his government had introduced four profit tax rates
exactly because it was socially sensitive.
"By reintroducing the HDZ's tax system with two tax rates, the
poorer citizens would again have to pay more taxes while the rich
will pay less. That would be a setback," Racan said.
Sanader, on the other hand, believes that the incumbent government
does not have a tax system. "The SDP is consistently trying to
impute that we take care of the rich, but it's the SDP that has sent
hundreds of thousands of people to the employment bureau and
reduced maternity leave and allowances," Sanader said.
He said that the two tax rates his party was planning to introduce
were not the same as those of the old HDZ government, but that they
were aimed at stimulating economy and improving living standards.
Asked if his government had launched too many reforms which it was
unable to cope with, Racan said it was maybe true that too many
reforms had been launched, but the government had to make up for the
failures of the previous government.
Sanader responded by saying that implementing reforms had not been
possible in times of war.
Both party leaders stressed as their priorities solving the problem
of unemployment, but they disagreed in estimates as to how much the
incumbent government had achieved in that regard.
Racan said that his government had inherited a large number of
workers with fictitious jobs, who had not been receiving wages, and
that his government had reduced unemployment, to which Sanader said
he did not consider the decrease in unemployment real, but rather
the result of administrative measures and removal of job-seekers
from employment registers.
(hina) rml sb