The omnibus bill on the balancing of public finances involves five

revenue-side measures: taxation of extraordinary profits from land use

changes; a special tax on high-value real estate, higher capital gains tax,

a tax on luxury boats, and higher taxes on high-end

cars.

Additionally, the government plans to introduce a tax on

financial transactions, Democrat (SDS) MP Andrej Šircelj told the press

today. This will have the biggest fiscal impact among the proposed measures

as $the tax base is broad$.

A new income tax bracket for

the highest earners will be set at between 45% and 50%, according to Marija

Plevčak of the Pensioners' Party (DeSUS).

A law to that effect had

already been sent to parliament but the coalition withdrew it in mid-April,

arguing that negotiations on revenue-side measures between the government

and the trade unions were still ongoing.

Another planned measure is

improving the efficiency of tax collection, which means, among other

things, loosening the provisions on tax secrecy. $There is no reason

why those who don't pay taxes should remain anonymous,$ Šircelj

said.

The tax procedure act will also be tweaked to allow the Tax

Administration to confiscate the property of tax evaders in order to pay

their tax debt, according to Šircelj.

A new law will be put in place

to tax second homes of over 160 m2.

Meanwhile, a former official at

the World Bank and advisor to the Slovenian government in 1991-1992

rejected the notion that austerity was bad for growth.

Boris

Pleskovič told a business meeting organised by the coalition New Slovenia

(NSi) that a balanced budget was the necessary first step on the road to

recovery.

He pointed to Asian countries, in particular China, which

have had budget surpluses but nevertheless high rates of

growth.

$If we save, everyone is more cautious about where the

money is channelled...It will be easier to kick-start growth when we show

that we can be prudent with out money$, he said.