Branko Roglic, owner of the Orbico consumer goods distributor which does business in 20 countries and employes more than 6,000 people, commented on Thursday the upcoming tax reform package, which the government says would ease the tax burden on both households and businesses.

Roglic descibed the proposed measures as merely “cosmetic changes.”

“The reform is going in the right direction. However, this is like using camomile to treat cancer, so to speak. In order to seriously reduce the tax burden on the economy, the price and the cost of government should be cut. And that can be done by reducing the number of counties, municipalities, by closing some state agencies, and everything else that increases the cost of running the government. In addition, all sorts of para-fiscal fees should be abolished,” Roglic told news website Net.hr.

He added that he does not agree with Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic’s recent statement that Croatia had cheap labour, which itself could attract investors.

“That’s wrong. First of all, even if the worker is cheap, that does not mean he is productive. Poorly paid workers are not a guarantee of productivity and competitiveness in the world market. Besides, what he sees as low net salary doesn’t mean that the cost for the employer is also low. Employers look at gross wages, and thanks to all the taxes and fees, Croatian workers aren’t as cheap as the Prime Minister seems to think. It’s a shame that they get so little, and they could get a lot more if various taxes were removed. For me, entrepreneurship means primarily taking care of people, I want these fees to be reduced, so that net salaries become higher, so that workers are more satisfied. Because only a satisfied worker can take part in developing a company. Human capital is the most essential ingredient,” Roglic said.

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