House of Representatives of FBiH adopts amendments to the Law on Allocation of Public Revenues

(Patria) - The House of Representatives of the FBiH Parliament adopted the Bill on Amendments to the Law on Allocation of Public Revenues at today's session. 

62 representatives voted for the law, eight were against, and five abstained. 

One of the proposers, Salko Zildžić (SDA), explained that instead of deleting the weight of 2 for KS during the public debate, it was reduced from 1.9658 to 1.5 in the first year, and then reduced by 0.1 in subsequent years until the final coefficient of 1.3.

“Canton Sarajevo would thus earn 86 million KM less, but after the analysis, we can say that in the first year of the law's implementation, the KS budget would not be reduced, and the remarks that this would be a blow to KS are unfounded”, said Zildžić. 

He added that the proposal would enable other cantons to provide constitutionally guaranteed rights to their citizens. 

“Essentially, this only limits the growth of indirect revenues of Canton Sarajevo, while other cantons would have more room to support development and expand social benefits, and have budget liquidity”, he added. 

Husein Rošić stated that the Committee on Economic Policy considered this proposal, and with eight votes in favor, the Committee adopted the Bill on Amendments. 

Representative Mirsad Pindžo said during the debate that the Economic Institute in Sarajevo analyzed the data from the adoption of the Law until 2019. 

“The story that large companies and public enterprises are in the capital city and that this is the reason for higher revenues is constantly circulating. Here is the data that 38 companies generate 1.125 billion KM in revenue. When you subtract that, you get the data that KS generates five times more funds than it withdraws”, explained Pindžo.

Miralem Galijašević said that laws like this are a constitutional issue in some developed countries. 

“This law has been pending for 26 years and makes revenue distribution unfair, and we all agree that the existing Law is a bad law”, said Galijašević. 

Dževad Adžem said that DF will stand on the side of justice at this moment and will vote for this proposal. 

Damir Mašić said that the existing Law clearly needs improvement, but also that most of those who are in favor of amendments said that this amendment will not fundamentally solve the problem. 

“I regret that the Government of FBiH has missed the opportunity to offer a comprehensive law so far. I don't know if it is serious to proceed with amendments to two articles of the Law. I call on the proposers that if the Law is adopted, to postpone its entry into force until January 1, 2023, because, according to the conclusion of the House of Peoples of FBiH, the Government is tasked with preparing amendments to this law”, said Mašić. 

Irfan Čengić said that it is senseless to change a bad Law with an even worse one. 

“According to all economic criteria, Sarajevo does not take a single mark from anyone. There is a lot of mockery of expertise here, while the expertise has actually presented accurate data. What must be emphasized is that we need to talk about final consumption. Let the Government of FBiH and other cantons agree on which economic criterion to introduce, and Sarajevo will agree”, said Čengić. 

During the debate, it was also stated that the existing Law and its amendments were proposed by those who have been in power all along and that they are trying to pit Canton Sarajevo against other cantons today.