Introduction of social pensions, lower VAT rates for food, and an increase of non-taxable part of salary – these are just some promises made by the SDP-led coalition.
Election manifesto of the People’s Coalition (SDP, HNS, HSS, HSU) is expected to be presented next week. It covers 113 pages and 15 chapters, and defines the direction for Croatia in the period from 2016 to 2020, provided the coalition forms a government after the elections in September, reports Jutarnji List on July 29, 2016.
The document consists of chapters dedicated to economy, education, health, labour and employment, social policy, agriculture and rural development, tax policy and budget, the judiciary, public administration, transport, energy, environmental protection, regional development and decentralization, culture, and national security and foreign policy.
When it comes to the economy, the goal is to make Croatia among the top 40 countries in the world with regards to the ease of doing business. The coalition also wants to increase exports of goods and services by at least 30 percent through an increased level of lending by the Croatian Bank for Reconstruction and Development, and with additional strengthening of economic diplomacy.
For investors whose investments exceed 100 million kuna and employ at least ten workers with university degrees, SDP would offer contracts ensuring that tax conditions would not deteriorate during the investment period. A special coupon would co-fund 50 percent of the income tax and business tax liabilities.
SDP would abolish compulsory membership in the Croatian Chamber of Economy starting from 2018. They would continue the process of abolition and reduction of fiscal charges for businesses, which should in 2017 and 2018 benefit companies in the amount of 1.1 billion kuna.
In the field of education, SDP plans to continue with comprehensive curricular reform. They would also increase spending for education system and issue 22,000 scholarships for children from socially-deprived families. The coalition would also establish the Single Payment Centre which would be in charge of payments of all social benefits.
When it comes to healthcare system, the coalition promises it would not increase co-payments. In the agricultural sector, the plan is to reduce the value-added tax for fresh fruit and vegetables and to invest through EU funds 37 billion kuna for rural development.
SDP would increase the non-taxable part of salary to 3,000 kuna, gradually depreciate the kuna, and reduce deficit and public debt, but without tough austerity measures. They want to decentralize the country, encourage local government units to voluntarily merge, establish a new salary system in the public sector and reduce government subsidies for companies to less than 2.5 billion kuna per year.
In terms of cultural sector, SDP wants to return everything that the previous government abolished, to re-establish the Commission for Non-Profit Media, to again fund civil society organizations from the revenues of Croatian Lottery, to strengthen the independence of the Croatian Radio Television, and to increase allocations to finance cultural activities.
As far as employment is concerned, the goal is to raise the employment rate to 66.2 percent, and to reduce unemployment to the EU average. During the next parliament, SDP promises to open 145,000 new jobs, while the number of unemployed would be reduced from an average of 300,000 to 170,000. That would increase the ratio of pensioners and employees to 1:1.4, while it currently stands at 1:1.15. That would make pension system more stable and increase an average pension to 60 percent of an average salary.
SDP also promises the introduction of a social pension. It would be a guaranteed income for people over 65 who do not have a regular pension. It is estimated that there are about 65,000 such people.
