The MP of the Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS) Nikola Rakočević called on the Government to open a social dialogue to preserve the living standards of citizens or to resign.
Rakočević, commenting on today's "Vijesti" front page on his account on the X network, said that unfortunately the citizens feel the rise in prices and the drop in living standards the best and that they do not need special explanations.
"It is necessary to open a broad social dialogue between the lay and professional public, in order to find a solution so that the nominal growth of wages provides stronger purchasing power, instead of continuously producing an increase in taxes and state levies, in order to cover the deficit in the state coffers, which further means a significantly lower standard of living the standard of citizens. A responsible government would open such a dialogue. Instead of discussing who is right, citizens want a better life and not negative effects from an increase in wages," said Rakočević.
In the Draft Fiscal Strategy, where it announces an increase in VAT on some products and services, the Government of Montenegro refers to European Union directives, and neighboring Croatia, a member of the EU since 2013, amended the law on value added tax (VAT), where it reduced its rates on a large number of products and services, including those on which Montenegro is now increasing VAT.
On March 25, 2022, the Croatian Parliament adopted an amendment to the VAT Law, where the low rates of five percent on basic foodstuffs, the list of which is much wider than the Montenegrin one, were kept, and then the VAT rates were reduced from 25 and 13 percent. to 5 percent.
In Croatia, the VAT rate on bread, flour, milk and dairy products, baby food, fat, oil, meat, eggs and sugar is five percent, while in Montenegro it is seven percent.
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