Amendments to the VAT law were adopted, which reduced the rate on food services and part of beverages from 21 to seven percent in catering facilities per year.
That solution is one of the socio-economic measures within the Government's third package of support for the economy, although proposals from the opposition were rejected.
Independent deputy Aleksandar Damjanović acted as an amendment to keep the lower VAT rate until the end of 2022
"If tourism returns to normal next year, let us give additional momentum to that sector," said Damjanović, but the amendment was not accepted.
According to the Government's estimate, the lower VAT rate will save the economy around EUR 16 million per year.
SDP MP Raško Konjević assessed that the proposed changes would correct the discriminatory norm from the existing law, which was passed by the parliamentary majority in mid-2016, when several privileged hotel owners were given the right to a lower level of VAT.
"Those who have much more money than all four thousand restaurateurs pay VAT at a rate of seven percent, just because they are privileged, while all other restaurateurs charge 21% VAT for the same service. Have any of those privileged hotel tycoons cut their prices in the past four years? Not. Which means that he had a classic extra profit in that 14 percent difference in VAT that he had before and after this law," Konjević said.
SDP President Draginja Vuksanović Stanković supported the law.
Damjanović said that the article of the law that allowed hoteliers and tycoons to have reduced VAT on five- and four-star hotels is being changed, because it contradicts the directive on the common VAT system and, in the opinion of the European Commission (EC), represents a territorial discrimination.
"EC forced you to revise a bit." And what did we adopt if we did something against our friends from Brussels, that they were angry with us? We are recognized here as the law-makers who block our path to the EU," said Damjanović.
He said that he requested data from the Ministry of Finance on VAT refunds within the highway project.
"It is the biggest robbery where tens of millions of euros are returned to subcontractors on the highway," Damjanović pointed out.
SD MP Boris Mugoša said that the VAT reduction measure is necessary and necessary, but that he believes that it will not have the expected effect, because it is related to tourism traffic, which has been seriously shaken.
"I expect that many restaurateurs will get out of the gray zone in this way. This is one of the laws that will help our economy to further strengthen its character," said Nikola Rakočević (DPS).
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