Chair of the parliamentary group and acting head of Estonia's opposition Center Party Kadri Simson on Tuesday asked President Toomas Hendrik Ilves to not promulgate the tax law amendments passed by the Riigikogu on Monday.
Center Party asks president not to sign tax changes into law
16th June 2015, 12:58
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«The handling of the tax package which passed the final vote in the Riigikogu yesterday had been made practically impossible for the opposition from the very beginning. With the cluster bill, a number of unrelated bills was pushed through in one go. What is the connection between raising value added tax on the accommodation service and various excise duties, reducing the social tax rate and changing the law on the Health Insurance Fund? The government rushed the tax package through parliament yesterday, but the president has the last word on it,» spokespeople for the Center Party quoted Simson as saying.
The Center Party's letter to the president pointed at breach of several procedural rules in the handling of the bill as the main problem of the tax package. To begin with, it was a cluster bill which made it practically impossible for the opposition to substantively deal with it. Furthermore, the opposition was steamrollered with a three times shorter than usual deadline for submitting amendments and finally, the whole package was tied to a vote of confidence in the government which so far has been used as an emergency measure.
«But there is no crisis today. It was just a step of convenience on the part of the government to eliminate political dialogue and the opportunity to vote on amendments. Speaking before the parliament in 2011, the president said it is not appropriate to process law amendments that serve a different purpose as a common cluster. The president has clearly stressed that different spheres should be discussed separately,» Simson said.
«Considering the above, we take the view that the tax package ought not to be promulgated. By pushing through the cluster bill, the government once again sacrificed parliamentary democracy and rolled over the opposition. Since the president has repeatedly spoken out against cluster bills, we hope he has the fortitude of mind with regard to this package as well,» the Centrist politician said.