A PROTEST organized by the Association Voice of Entrepreneurs (Cro. Glas Poduzetnika) and the Croatian Initiative for Occasional Passenger Carriage took place today at 1 pm for the purpose of expressing dissatisfaction with the government's measures for saving the economy affected by the coronavirus epidemic.

Groups of protesters started arriving to St. Mark's Square as early as at noon. The organizers split the protesters into groups of 40 people in order not to violate any anti-epidemic measures.

Bujas: We want justice

Hrvoje Bujas from the Voice of Entrepreneurs appeared before the gathered people to reiterate the demands of entrepreneurs. "We need to lower taxes, reform the public administration, and we need to be more efficient. We cannot allow the recession to last for six years. It will take courage. In the elections, choose those who will work for your interests," he said. "We want more justice, and we demand that VAT be charged only once the invoice is collected. You'll see what it's like to be the last link in the chain. You need to cut the taxes in order to have fewer unemployed people and satisfied entrepreneurs," Bujas said. 

The president of the said association told the reporters that he met with government representatives this morning. "The dissolution of the parliament happened at the wrong moment. We now have no one to talk to about long-term measures. This morning we had a conversation with three ministries, they finally started to take us seriously. These are emergency measures. We received serious promises today. Telling them that we would come to St. Mark's Square was the push they needed to invite us to talk. I don't know if the meeting would have taken place if we hadn't said that we had had enough and that we were coming," said Bujas.

"Eliminate parafiscal levies and keep the taxes fair"

Bujas stressed that he does not want leasing companies, whose owners did not show up at the protest even though they are also entrepreneurs, to go bankrupt. He asked what the Croatian Bank for Reconstruction and Development, which is financing one part of leasing with an interest rate of 1.1 percent, was doing in this situation. He proposed that the interest rate be lowered to 0.25 percent, which is how much they charge for "COVID loans".

Bujas added that it has been said that the measures for passenger buses and events would be relaxed soon. 

In a statement to reporters, he also stated he wanted the present and the future Croatian government to be aware of the basic postulates that would enable more work opportunities without 'killing people' with taxes.

"Eliminate parafiscal levies and keep the taxes fair. We suggest a "flat rate" of 20 percent, for example, and a non-taxable basis of HRK 5,000 in order to leave enough money for survival to those who earn the least," Bujas said.

"The second postulate is digitization so that entrepreneurs are not forced to visit countless government counters. The third is "more justice", namely, VAT should be paid only once the entrepreneur has collected an invoice, and the fourth postulate is lower taxes", says Bujas. 

The President of the Taxpayers' Association LIPA Davor Huic expressed his support for the protest. "In the last Parliament session, there were only three entrepreneurs, and the rest were workers from the public sector. In Croatia, laws are passed by people who have never created money. The Taxpayers' Association LIPA strives to organize things in a different way. We need to be more efficient, we need to lower taxes and abolish parafiscal levies. That will take courage. I urge you to choose those who will represent your interests in the elections," said Huic. 

The entrepreneurs have recently announced five points to which they demand that the government respond urgently, regarding, for example, the moratorium on loans and leasing, as well as the continuation of the Croatian Employment Service's measures to preserve jobs. The carriers are asking for concrete measures to be taken to save their businesses and jobs. If that doesn't happen, they claim, by August 1, 60 percent of occasional carriage companies will go out of business, and their workers will be left without jobs.