Banks are not paying enough taxes

According to the Lithuanian Commissioner for Taxation, Customs, Anti-fraud and Audit Algirdas Semeta (picture), banks are not paying enough taxes to the country's budget and financial transactions are exempt from value added tax (VAT). "When you buy water, you pay VAT, whereas [when you purchase] financial services you do not. Thus the tax burden on the financial sector is less than on the others," says the commissioner. The commissioner proposes to introduce at least 0.1 percent tax rate for trade in shares and bonds, informs LETA/ELTA, referring to Lietuvos rytas.

However, President of the Vilnius Stock Exchange Nasdaq OMXArminta Saladziene says that such decision would force Lithuanian business and operations to move to the other markets where such tax is not applicable. Meanwhile, Semeta says that such concerns are exaggerated. Experts at Vilnius Stock Exchange estimate that within a year Lithuania's budget would receive around LTL 4.5 million (EUR 1.3 million) out of this tax. Semeta claims that the revenue could reach tens of billions of litas if transactions outside the stock exchange were also included. How would this charge affect ordinary bank customers? So far the banks are reluctant to comment but they hint that the service may get more expensive.

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