Babiš was invited six weeks ago, said the host of the show, Václav Moravec. According to him, even after many urgencies, (Babiš’s) spokesman did not provide “any, ie not even a negative answer”.
“Depending on the circumstances of the communication, the fact that Ivan Bartoš, the leader of the opposition party, would be the guest of the Questions in the first part, or the co-opponent and opponent Andrej Babiš, would have been the cause of silence,” the moderator added.
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Bartoš described the planned one-time pension contribution as an election gift. “It will not help seniors to get into a better economic situation,” he added. According to him, the government should rather address the situation of people in executions or company escapes to tax havens.
Babiš has previously stated that he wants to propose to the government on Monday that the state distribute respirators and drapes from its reserves to roughly three million seniors. It plans that Czech Post would distribute protective equipment among seniors. “It simply came to our notice then. It can be seen that the Prime Minister never sent anything to a greater extent, “Bartoš remarked. According to him, packing and distributing veils to three million households would be as demanding as sending out ballots. “It’s PR at the expense of the prime minister addressing something serious,” he said, adding that there were already reliable distribution channels for getting protective equipment to the citizens.
How to ensure pension reform?
Bartoš also criticized that the government did not propose any pension reform. Moreover, its complexity is the reason why its preparation would be beyond the power of the Pirates themselves.
When asked by the moderator whether it will be necessary to raise the retirement age (now capped to 65), Bartoš said that we do not have to go this route. It is possible to discuss, for example, the conditions of the concurrence of pension and extra income. However, he would leave a more detailed discussion until a proposal is on the table.
CERGE-EI economist Daniel Münich said on the program that he was not afraid to say that there would be no pension reform under the current government. According to him, rather the reform of the accounting reporting of income in the pension account is now underway, “which is not a reform with a capital R”. According to him, this would consist in solving the problem that awaits 20 or more years, namely how to pay pensions to future seniors, the so-called Husák children (a label for a strong population wave, which began in the early 70s – triggered by the then significant measures of the communist regime and other circumstances of life in normalization).
The economist also said that there are various options – to stop the growth of pensions, even greater egalitarianism in pensions, to reduce everyone’s pension (which, however, would bring some pensioners below the poverty line) or to increase taxes. According to him, an increase in taxes will probably be inevitable.
As stated in the program, Babiš also expressed doubts about the implementation of the pension reform during the current government for Czech Radio.
Broad criticism of the intention to abolish the super-gross wage
Bartoš also argued in the program with the intention of the governing coalition to abolish the super-wage. Instead, the pirates proposed to increase the current taxpayer rebate from CZK 24,000 to CZK 33,000 per year and to set the income tax rate at 19 percent.
The coalition parties agreed at the end of August to abolish the super-gross wage and introduce a 15 percent income tax (now effective taxation for employees is 20.1 percent). At the same time, the rate should remain 23 percent for people with an income of over 140 thousand crowns per month. The plan will be submitted to the Chamber of Deputies for discussion.
Bartoš pointed out that the Minister of Finance Alena Schillerová (for YES) is not dealing with the associated shortfall in public budget revenues. The calculations vary widely, usually numbering over 70 billion crowns.
Schiller said this week that she did not have a plan to compensate for this shortfall in state budget revenues from next year. The budget deficit will therefore be higher in the next few years. However, according to her, the measure will support household consumption and will have a positive effect on state budget revenues in the long run.
Last week, the Governor of the Czech National Bank, Jiří Rusnok, also criticized the abolition of the super-gross wage at OVM. He noted, for example, that according to him, the reduction of income tax will not lead to people spending more and thus support consumption, which is one of the important components of economic performance. “A large part of people will save the money, which will not kick off the economy,” he added.
President of the Republic Miloš Zeman also recently spoke out against the abolition of the super-gross wage for the Prima TV Party.
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