First meeting of the Coordination Body for the Suppression of the Shadow Economy was held
71.2% of the measures of the National Program for Suppression of the Shadow Economy for the period 2019-2020 have been fully or partially implemented, which is significantly more compared to any other current planning document, it was said today at the first meeting of the new Coordination Body for the Suppression of the Shadow Economy.
Incentive measures for fair competition, legal entrepreneurship and employment have the highest level of implementation, where 78.9% of planned activities have been fully or partially implemented, as well as measures related to raising awareness of citizens and the economy about the importance of combating the shadow economy, within which 78.8% of activities were realized. The lowest level of realization (61.1%) was recorded in the reform of the Tax Administration.
In addition to presenting the results so far, the topic of the first meeting was the development of a new National Program. NALED Executive Director Violeta Jovanović highlighted that such results are a consequence of the teamwork of the economy, civil and public sector and the Government's clear commitment to combating the shadow economy, and that NALED remains the state's partner in this process.
NALED Policy Director, Jelena Bojovic, pointed out that it is necessary to continue with the reform of inspections and para-fiscals, regulation of flexible forms of employment and extension of the Law on Simplified Employment in Seasonal Jobs in Agriculture to other activities. Also, it is necessary to introduce progressive taxation of salaries, but still, stimulate cashless payments and include more measures related to the reform of the Tax Administration in the National Program.
The meeting was chaired by Finance Minister Sinisa Mali, and was attended by Minister of Public Administration and Local Government Marija Obradovic, Minister of Trade, Tourism and Telecommunications Tatjana Matic, Minister of Economy Andjelka Atanackovic and Minister of Labor, Employment, Veterans and Social Policy Darija Kisic Tepavcevic. Representatives of the Ministry of Construction and NALED were also present.
It was agreed that the concept of the Action Plan of the new National Program will be submitted to all ministries at the beginning of next week, followed by the meetings of the Expert Group of the Coordination Body, in order to draft the Action Plan.
The draft action plan for combating the shadow economy will be presented in April at the second meeting of this Coordination Body, and its adoption is planned for June 2021.
