Grubišić on tax reform: A real breakthrough would be the liberalization of contributions for pensions and health, the example is the Czech Republic which has caught up with Japan

The new tax reform presented last week, as the Prime Minister himself points out, is yet another in a series of reforms that this Government has implemented in the past seven years in power. Is it really a true reform of the system or minor cosmetic changes, will the new changes direct Croatia in a new direction or is it an adjustment that will allow higher salaries only for some, with the leader Krešimir Macan, in a new episode of the podcast Špica s Macanom, discussed the president of the Entrepreneurs’ Voice association Hrvoje Bujas and business consultant and entrepreneur Andrej Grubišić.

As stated, Bujas believes that a concrete tax reform requires a series of accompanying reforms, such as reforms of the judiciary, administration, and local self-government, which will enable more efficient tax management, and emphasizes that Croatia is currently last in the eurozone in terms of net income, and among the last in the European Union, while taxes remain among the highest.

– Reducing contributions for the first pension pillar, in order to minimally raise net salaries, is all just passing the ball, or sharing nothing, we are equally poor – concludes Bujas, adding that in the context of increasing the fiscal autonomy of local self-government units, it can only help some cities like Sveta Nedelja or Bjelovar, which can afford a lower income tax to attract the necessary workforce.

Grubišić, on the other hand, considers contributions we pay for the pension and health system to be a much greater challenge than income tax.

– A real breakthrough would be the reduction of contributions and the liberalization of both systems, however, we would have a classic political problem here, because the positive results of that would not be visible during the year or two, but after twenty or thirty, which is not the horizon of many who are today in high politics – Grubišić cites the example of the Czech Republic, which after exiting socialism was at the bottom, but through slow progress over a thirty-year period reached a position where it has 25% higher GDP per capita than most former socialist countries, and in terms of purchasing power quality, it has equaled Japan.

Can Možemo or can’t it, how the new government is managing the capital after two years in office, what they have realized, and what are the future plans, with Krešimir Macan discussed in the second topic of the week the representatives in the Zagreb City Assembly, Gordan Bosanac from Možemo and Renato Petek from the SDP.

The problem is the lack of a composting plant, but also TikTok

Bosanac highlighted the construction of new kindergartens as the greatest successes, with which they plan to ensure enough places for all children in the city by the end of the term, then a high level of reconstruction after the earthquake, the abolition of the ‘parent caregiver’ measure, ensuring equal redistribution of funds for the needs of all citizens, and the introduction of a new waste management model, which has significantly increased recycling in Zagreb.

Along with praise for the achieved successes in the mentioned areas, Petek reflected on the challenges that still lie ahead for the current government, such as the lack of a composting plant, a key facility for an efficient waste management system, for which there was an opportunity for construction at the beginning of the term. He also warned of shortcomings in communication with citizens who, as he says, are not familiar with future projects and what is planned in the coming period.

On the potential dangers of TikTok, one of the most popular social networks currently in the world, and why most civil servants are prohibited from using it, and it is also completely banned in some countries, Macan spoke with Ilija Brajković, a marketing expert from the marketing agency Kontra, and Velimir Grgić, the author of the first serious book on TikTok in the world, a journalist, publicist, and screenwriter.

The interlocutors explained that the main reason for its popularity is the algorithm, which recognizes the content each user wants to watch in the future based on previous views, and is more advanced than any similar one on the market as it is based on artificial intelligence. The interesting aspect of such a way of displaying content is that there are different standards for using the application in China, from where it originates, where the application itself has limited its usage time until a certain time at night, and shows its audience predominantly educational content that encourages children to engage in science, teaching, and research, while in the West there are no restrictions, children are exposed to various ‘challenges’ and more entertaining content, and children mostly want to become ‘influencers’.