Employers dissatisfied with the work of the FBiH Parliament: We demand urgent adoption of laws on contributions and income tax

(Patria) - The Employers' Association in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina has sent an urgent request to the leadership of the House of Representatives of the FBiH Parliament to include in the agenda of the session of the House of Representatives scheduled for June 21, 2023, the Law on Amendments to the Law on Contributions of FBiH and the Law on Amendments to the Law on Income Tax of FBiH.

The Employers' Association in FBiH expressed disappointment that the materials previously proposed and submitted by the UPFBiH, directly or indirectly, were not included in the agenda of the session, and they express particular concern due to the lack of interest from the leadership and representatives of the House of Representatives of the FBiH Parliament in adopting these two proposed amendments to the laws, the adoption of which would enable the improvement of employee standards.

“As is known, the UPFBiH submitted several proposals at the end of last year regarding the need for urgent improvement of the position of workers in FBiH through the adoption of regulations that would allow employers to temporarily pay workers increased salaries up to BAM 400, and for the state to forgo part of the payments for taxes and contributions for that increased salary amount, until permanent systemic solutions are adopted,” the UPFBiH reminds.

Despite the promises of political parties that form the majority in the House of Representatives of the Parliament of the Federation of BiH that the amendments to the laws will be quickly considered and receive their support, this has not happened to date. With the approach of annual leave, the increasingly likely scenario that even these temporary solutions will not be on the agenda of the House of Representatives of the FBiH Parliament in the near future is further concerning, so there is a danger that this year will also be “lost” when it comes to solutions that would lead to increased wages for employees, a better standard of living for citizens, and at least a partial halt to the departure of workers from BiH.

“Precisely because of this, we once again remind the representatives of the importance of this issue and ask, propose that the amendments to the laws be included in the agenda before the start of the session in accordance with the valid procedures,” state the UPFBiH.

The UPFBiH reminds that their initiative and request for an urgent thematic session, at which the problems faced by the economy of FBiH would be discussed, including the lack of qualified labor and the emigration of labor, one of the most pressing issues, have never been answered.

Although it was promised long ago, neither the executive nor the legislative authorities in FBiH have yet formed even a working group for the preparation of fiscal laws, which directly indicates that we will not have a proposal for permanent, systemic solutions in FBiH anytime soon, and it is particularly concerning to learn that even when the Law on Contributions and the Law on Income Tax eventually come into force, it will take more than nine months for them to be operationally applied, according to statements from officials.

Due to all of the above, the UPFBiH requests that the leadership and representatives of the House of Representatives of the FBiH Parliament include the amendments to the aforementioned ad hoc laws on the agenda of the session scheduled for June 21, 2023, especially since these solutions have received unanimous support from the Economic and Social Council for the Territory of the Federation of BiH.