SARAJEVO, June 4 (Hina)- The House of Representatives of the Federation of Bosnia-Herzegovina's Parliament on Tuesday adopted a new law on tax authorities giving them much more extensive powers and introducing harsh measures against
possible tax evaders.
SARAJEVO, June 4 (Hina)- The House of Representatives of the
Federation of Bosnia-Herzegovina's Parliament on Tuesday adopted a
new law on tax authorities giving them much more extensive powers
and introducing harsh measures against possible tax evaders. #L#
The adoption of the law was a precondition set by the International
Monetary Fund (IMF) for the approval of a new stand-by arrangement
worth USD86 million as well as loan support by the World Bank.
The new law on tax authorities was in fact mostly written by
international representatives and is more or less based on the tax
system currently used in the USA.
The country's media claim the law was imposed and describe it as
draconian. The media have also warned that the law virtually gives
tax authorities unlimited power without actually introducing any
internal control mechanisms.
Among other things, the law envisages that tax officers can wear
arms, raid apartments and business premises without any
limitations, and have the right to confiscate the debtors' property
at their own discretion.
The law introduces fines of up to 50,000 marks for those violating
tax regulations.
The head of the federal tax administration, Midhat Arifovic,
dismissed the criticisms, claiming that the law was a much milder
version of the tax law implemented in the USA.
He said that the harsher tax law was the consequence of tax
avoidance that had taken on exceptionally serious proportions,
threatening the stability of the entity's budget and entire social
system.
Tax inspectors have estimated that more than one billion marks of
tax money was understated in the first four months of this year.
Sales tax accounted for 210 million marks of the amount.
(hina) sp sb rml