he plan for a new tax reform met with strong opposition from the opposition parties in the Croatian parliament on Wednesday, who said that local government units would be left without a considerable amount of revenue, while the ruling parties said that no government before had done so much to reduce the tax burden.

Dario Zurovec and Hrvoje Koscec, the mayors of Sveta Nedelja and Sveti Ivan Zelina from the Fokus party, condemned the tax reform plan saying that central government was increasing spending while denying the same to local government.

Damir Bakic (Mozemo! platform) said that the government had not yet revealed any details of its plan. “We have not heard details yet. Plenkovic has mentioned tax rates, income tax, possible abolition of local tax and increasing disposable income, but we do not know how it will be done,” he said.

In the case of the City of Zagreb, abolishing local tax would mean reducing regular income by approximately ten per cent, which means that it will be impossible to maintain all the present services and that countervailing measures would be needed, but for now there have been no indications that the government will indemnify local government units, Bakic said.

Bakic does not support the possible flexibility of tax provisions, which would change from municipality to municipality and from town to town. He predicts that the planned reform will have long-term implications for cities such as Zagreb, Rijeka, Osijek, and Split, and that these cities will suffer the biggest losses and will need some sort of compensation.

Ivan Penava (DP party) says that nothing will be gained from the planned reform, while on the other hand Hrvoje Zekanovic (Christian Democrats) and member of the European Parliament Tomislav Sokol (HDZ/EPP) believe that the proposed tax reform would be an excellent solution.

“It is up to towns and municipalities to compensate themselves from income tax. People will have higher pay,” Zekanovic said.

Sokol noted that no previous government had reduced the tax burden so much as the present government. “The tax reductions during the term of this government are unprecedented. The purpose of this plan too is to ensure that more money is left in people’s pockets,” he said.

Zekanovic said that the ruling parties had discussed the possibility of imposing a property tax, but that no specific proposal had been made.

The government’s plan is expected to be unveiled next week. Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic has announced the possibility of abolishing local tax while at the same time leaving room for towns and municipalities to increase the income tax rate for the amount lost on the local tax.