The planned tax reform will simplify procedures and crack down on tax evasion more strongly, Finance Minister Zdravko Maric said on Wednesday.

When asked to comment on the Health Ministry’s announcements of amendments to the law on compulsory health insurance, which entail preventive taxes on tobacco and alcohol, Maric said that the amendments have not been fully agreed on with the Finance Ministry, or the government.

He added that the taxes would be aligned with EU directives, and simplified for taxpayers.

The changes in tax regulations should be introduced in early 2019.

He also commented on three laws through which the government wished to help citizens with frozen bank accounts, including one thanks to which the debts of 150,474 citizens, who owed the state or state-owed companies up to 10,000 kuna (€1,350) plus interest each, were written off over the weekend in the total amount of 1.39 billion kuna (€188 million).

The goal of the law was to write off smaller debts of up to 10,000 kuna, owed to either the state or state-owned companies. The measure would apply to citizens whose bank accounts were blocked as of December 31, 2017.

“We tried to find a balanced solution, which shouldn’t endanger the balance of the whole system, but it needs stressing that obligations must be serviced,” Maric said, adding that the government could not force local government units and private creditors to write off citizens’ debts.

Prime Minister Plenkovic had appealed to them on Monday to write off the debts.

When asked to comment on criticisms that, in seeking solutions for citizens with frozen bank accounts, the government did not apply social criteria, he said such criteria would endanger the implementation of the laws.

(€1 = 7.38 kuna)

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