Tax authorities have blocked the accounts of craftsmen on the Adriatic because they could not pay the tax assessed as in previous, very successful tourist seasons. Last year, the state’s revenue from tourism was 15 percent lower.
Ante Stanić from Hvar has suggested that I publish his proposal to the tax authorities. This reader proposes that tax authorities temporarily unblock the accounts of all craftsmen in the tourism sector, especially on the islands, ahead of the tourist season, so that tax-debtor craftsmen can start operating and (perhaps) earn enough to pay off their tax debts. With blocked accounts, the likelihood of collecting tax debts from craftsmen is minimal. This proposal was submitted to us by the reader from Hvar just two weeks after we published a text about how the Minister of Finance hesitates to collect 10 billion kuna in overdue unpaid public dues. In the article about the hesitation in collecting public dues, we also wrote about how Minister Šuker selectively applies legal means of enforced collection. He is strict with small entrepreneurs and craftsmen, but has postponed enforced collections from large debtors for several years, for example, a year and a half for 1.2 billion kuna in debt from INA, where Šuker is also the chairman of the Supervisory Board.
Unreliable ownership records
Untouchable judge
forger
Numerous responses from readers have come regarding articles about illegal entries of ownership in land registries. A reader from Vodice, readers from Medulin, Primošten, the island of Krk, several readers from Zagreb, etc., have reached out. However, special attention deserves the case of reader Nada Landeka. I wrote about the problem of this reader, whose judgment was forged in the Municipal Court in Dugo Selo (publishing a facsimile of the forgery) ten years ago. The reader contacted me to greet me and inform me that this court case has still not been resolved.
Other disputes due to ‘land registry tricks’ will not be resolved soon either, as in the meantime, Judge Ivana Domić was acquitted by her colleague of the charge of illegally seizing land and real estate on Brač, and the State Judicial Council has decided that it is not disputed that the judge is adjudicating in her husband’s case.
Temporary unblocking Despite the contradiction between the objections regarding hesitation in enforced collection and the proposal for unblocking the accounts of tax debtors, it must be acknowledged that instead of liquidating debtors, it is wiser to try to increase the likelihood of debt collection, even if it means delayed collection of claims. It should not be overlooked that there are also issues of impoverishing the tourist offer due to the liquidation of a relatively large number of craftsmen in the tourism sector (how many are blocked on the Adriatic). However, the question arises whether it was reasonable to insist on collecting tax obligations in the same amounts during the successful tourist season of 2008 and the significantly weaker season of 2009. The question is also how to implement differentiated tax collection proportional to the success of the season if it cannot be trusted that local tax authorities will not reduce tax obligations for those who bribe them. It is also true that it is not the same to collect overdue unpaid public dues from debtors on the mainland, who can operate practically all year round, and from debtors on the islands in tourism activities who can operate, in principle, only five months a year. If an action to unblock the accounts of tax-debtor craftsmen in tourism activities on the islands and the coast were to be initiated, it would have to be implemented now, ahead of the season, and not after the season begins (the first guests are already arriving for Easter and May 1).
