Proposed VAT hike tops agenda

Around 1,000 union leaders met in Prague on Saturday to weigh up and decide their next steps in reaction to reforms pushed through by the centre-right coalition government. Top of their agenda was the government’s proposal to sweep in a single rate of Value Added Tax at 20 percent to pay for pension reform. Union leaders have already denounced the step saying that it will mean that main burden of paying for the change will fall on the poor. Union leaders also debated a new labour code, health and wider tax reforms. Union leaders were also scheduled to return to the issue of public sector pay cuts which already sparked a one-day strike in December.

Author: Chris Johnstone