If the extortion does not stop, we will withdraw all that money from domestic banks and transfer it to foreign banks, and we will fictitiously register our residences in Montenegro, which will surely welcome us and our money with open arms, while Croatia will be left with nothing, is the sharp message from thousands of Croatian seafarers, writes the portal novilist.hr.
The state is robbing us and treating us like stepchildren. We are not second-class citizens and we will not allow the state to fill budget gaps at the expense of seafarers and attempt to reduce the recession. Croatian seafarers earn 400 million euros annually. If the extortion does not stop, we will withdraw all that money from domestic banks and transfer it to foreign banks, and we will fictitiously register our residences in Montenegro, which will surely welcome us and our money with open arms, while Croatia will be left with nothing. This is a sharp message from thousands of Croatian seafarers outraged by the tax reform. The Ministry of Finance, namely, adopted a regulation on the taxation of seafarers on December 17 of last year, just two weeks before the start of submitting tax returns for 2008 when many seafarers were at sea, and most of them could not even gather all the necessary documents for submitting tax returns. The new tax system will »strip« all seafarers who have not spent 183 days on board in one year, which is required to be exempt from taxes, and in this, they protest, travel days, sick leave, and training days are not included, and many will have to pay tens of thousands of kuna in taxes. (www.novilist.hr)
