“It is very early, tax changes have just been made and now to talk again about some tax changes – you simply cannot do that without evaluating and looking at how taxes work after the changes,” K. Vaitiekūnas said to LRT radio on Tuesday.
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“The consideration is simply too early. Certainly, one can talk, but it will be theoretical talk,” he added.
However, the minister agreed that sooner or later it will be necessary to look for opportunities to change taxes, because as the state debt and defense funding grow, sustainable budget revenues will be needed.
“But I really don’t think that every year you can keep poking into the tax system, into taxpayers’ pockets, and try to scrape money out of there,” K. Vaitiekūnas said. “Because it is really very easy to drive the economy onto the shoals and then you will have much bigger problems than a growing debt.”
According to the minister, given the current geopolitical circumstances, “it is simply unrealistic” not to have a budget deficit, but Lithuania’s public finances are not in bad shape: “The situation is certainly not dramatic, it is controlled, the economy is quite lively, (budget – BNS) revenues are growing.”
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According to K. Vaitiekūnas, it is natural that the state debt is also growing.
“We will not transition to sustainable financing overnight either, it will be a long-term process. At some point, we will achieve financial sustainability,” emphasized K. Vaitiekūnas.
As BNS wrote, the minister said last week that with sharply increasing state expenditures, sustainable revenues could be increased by raising property taxes, but this requires additional detailed analysis.
President’s advisor Vaidas Augustinavičius also told Žinių radio on Tuesday that it is still early to discuss tax changes because first the effect of last year’s tax changes needs to be assessed.
Prime Minister Inga Ruginienė explained last week that there is currently no discussion about raising taxes.
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