He notes that during the construction of the first section, we lost over 267 million euros in revenue due to privileges to a Chinese company, that the Chinese made unrealistic requests for tax refunds, while receiving salaries seven times higher than the average in our country. He also says that the Regulation on excise duties on fuel for yachts should be amended, because, as he says, it is inappropriate to give privileges to those who have a lot of money.
The government has proposed amendments to the Highway Law, according to which foreign citizens engaged in the project will not be exempt from paying taxes and contributions to mandatory social insurance. And this is a good decision that will preserve our tax and financial system, Ines Mrdović from the Action for Social Justice told Radio Montenegro.
"We simply need to eliminate the possibility that foreign companies can, conditionally speaking, be a model for extracting money from Montenegro," commented Mrdović.
It seems we have learned a lesson from the construction of the first section of the highway, when the Chinese contractor had numerous privileges. Fiscal exemptions, according to Mrdović, reached 267 million euros. Specifically, based on import VAT and customs duties, they exceeded 49 million, fuel excise duty 11, and VAT above 170 million. Based on contributions to wages, they reached 36 million.
"So, when it comes to taxes and contributions on earnings, it was really a huge figure," the interviewee points out.
In addition, 2018 was the year of the most intensive work on the section from Smokovac to Mateševo. At that time, the Chinese CRBC, Mrdović notes, showed a cost based on wages of 109 million.
"That year, it showed that it had 1,654 people who were foreign citizens engaged. When this data is taken, it follows that they had an average salary of five and a half thousand, while the Montenegrin salary at that time was 770 euros, which means that they showed an income seven times higher than the average at that time in Montenegro," emphasized the executive director of the Action for Social Justice.
While the average salary of a highway worker was five and a half thousand euros, the managerial salary was nine times higher, 43 or 45 thousand euros, but there is another interesting fact, says Mrdović, so the Chinese also requested a VAT refund on workers' recreational equipment.
"ASP data shows, for example, that the Chinese imported, for example, equipment for sports and recreation for workers, and then requested that it be exempted from VAT, while the Law clearly stipulated that only those VAT exemptions that were directly related to the construction of the highway were allowed," Mrdović stated.
Her position is that after the proposed amendments to the Highway Law, the Government should also amend the Regulation according to which yachts are exempt from excise duties on fuel.
"Yachtists are people who have money and it is truly inappropriate to give such privileges," Mrdović is categorical, citing data showing that the state has lost 104 million euros on this basis in the past decade and a half.
