Support for Director Isović: Do not yield to pressures, and public companies must pay taxes

Workers from several BiH companies have sent a joint open letter to the Director of the FBiH Tax Administration, Šerif Isović, expressing their full support for the activities he has initiated, and the Novinska agencija Patria transmits the letter in its entirety.

-Dear Mr. Isović. We are convinced that the workers of the suffering and plundered state of Bosnia and Herzegovina will give full support to your move, that is, the restriction of accounts of public companies that owe the state a total of 800 million marks.

These companies, led over the past twenty years by their incompetent, corrupt and criminal managements that have become mired in arrogance and insolence, have for years, unpunished, like a millstone around the neck, dragged the state and the workers of this state, who with their own hands create new values, to the very bottom.

We are of the opinion that the workers of this state see in your move a sincere effort to put an end to the numerous so-called managers who treat the common good of all citizens as if it were their own patrimony, which they manage as they please, and they manage like drunkards who have drunk away and run up debts on what they perceive as their patrimony.

In all economically somewhat stable societies, tax discipline is one of the basic tenets, but only in afflicted states and in them, their afflicted workers, paying taxes is a legal obligation for some and a "legal obligation" for others.

For the latter, who understood the change of the economic and social system from social/state property to private property and ownership in a literal way, having grabbed, through various party arrangements, armchairs and positions in public enterprises, this obligation and responsibility in work was a total unknown because they identified themselves with the state and thereby imagined that there was no need to answer to anyone.

Thus, it often happened that the "training of strictness" in terms of tax discipline was carried out on entities from the private sector, which, in exceptionally difficult business conditions, despite everything, are the bearers of economic development in this country. That development which mobilizes part of the working class, puts its labor power into operation, simultaneously strengthening both the state and the working class.

On the other hand, workers, i.e., employees of public companies and loss-makers, were often in a position to demand basic rights on the streets, such as the right to health insurance, and in many cases could not obtain it, while their managers simultaneously adorned their vehicle fleets with public money.

For years, such actions were tolerated, before the "mafia state" within the state, and the workers would remain cheated, on the streets, without work experience, pension, sick from both injustice and disease. And therefore, Mr. Isović, be assured that the majority of workers expect from you, welcoming your efforts, that the aforementioned luxury for currents that lead us to the bottom be finally abolished.

The moment when the loss-makers who have indebted the citizens of this state for 800 million marks are removed from those positions, either by liquidating what has long since failed or by restructuring and placing those enterprises in the real sector, a real market competition where the rules are not just there to be respected but are also a condition of existence, at that moment there will no longer be a scramble for those positions and the arrogance of the minority at the expense of the majority will definitively be stopped.

Mr. Isović, on the side of your move are not only the workers and citizens of this state, but also time, business, economic and social relations in the world. Your decision can break with one legacy and establish principles below which no business entity in BiH, whether in the public or private sector, can go.

We appreciate that the workers, like you, Mr. Isović, are aware that you will now be exposed to numerous pressures from politicians who will not know how to appease their party commissars in loss-making enterprises, whose planned economy is based on planning attractive trips and annual vacations financed by regular taxpayers who still prevent the financial collapse of this state.

There should be no doubt that many among them will now become stubborn and start pulling their party bosses by the sleeves. At the same time, this will be an excellent opportunity for all of us together, starting from workers to employers, and every citizen, to be convinced of who truly wants reforms and the "European paths" that are constantly talked about.

We will see who truly works towards that goal, and which political options and which currents within those political options "under the table" nudge with their foot while supposedly calling for respect for the law and creating a more favorable business environment. Mr. Isović, do not refrain from pointing out such individuals by name and surname. The working class will certainly prepare an adequate "reward" for them.

In your move, one can discern and notice that in this state someone has finally started doing their job responsibly with the aim of saving the state from collapse and the citizens from definitive ruin. Therefore, support for you also means support for all those who want to build Bosnia and Herzegovina as a healthy state and a mature society.

If you succeed in persevering in your decision, it will undoubtedly yield results, and the smaller BiH entity will have to follow that path. We are sure that you have the support of all workers, regardless of which people they belong to, because the question that arises is not a question of vital national interests but a question of prosperity or ruin for all those who want to work and create new goods here under equal opportunities for all.

At the same time, we call on all workers and trade unions to support the move of the Director of the FBIH Tax Administration, Šerif Isović, it is stated at the end of the open letter.