The lower house of the Czech Parliament has approved a government plan to cut income taxes in an effort to help revive an economy hit by the coronavirus pandemic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The lawmakers have reduced the main tax rate from 20.1% to 15% while the top earners will pay 23%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The annual cost of the cuts will reach some 100 billion Czech crowns ($4.6 billion).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As part of the measure, the lower house agreed to increase the flat write-off on personal income tax by 3,000 crowns annually for the next two years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The cuts split the ruling coalition. It was pushed through by the centrist ANO movement by Prime Minister Andrej Babis with help from the right-wing opposition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The other coalition party, the leftist Social Democrats, was against it, arguing it is unjust for low-income employees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The tax reform had already been approved by the upper house, the Senate. President Milos Zeman said he would not veto it, meaning it will become effective in January.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Czech central bank expects the economy to contract by 7.2% this year before bouncing back with 1.7% growth next year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The lower house of the Czech Parliament has approved a government plan to cut income taxes in an effort to help revive an economy hit by the coronavirus pandemic. The lawmakers have reduced the main tax rate from 20.1% to 15% while the top earners will pay 23%. The annual cost of the cuts will […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n