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Zagreb - Ministry of Finance State Secretary Zdravko Zrinušić said on Thursday that the planned increase in the annual amount of non-taxable receipts for dependents from HRK 15,000 to HRK 24,000 would encompass 93,000 people.
Currently, there are about one million dependents in families and by raising the threshold to HRK 24,000, that number will increase by 93,000, Zrinušić said, presenting a bill of amendments to the Income Tax Act in the Sabor.
There are currently 579,000 dependents under the age of 18 and 212,000 over the age of 18, while there are 22,000 pensioners and with the threshold increase, the number of dependent pensioners will increase to 70,000. The fiscal effect of the measure is estimated at HRK 246 million, he added.
The amount of HRK 24,000 is reasonable, Zrinušić underlined.
He recalled that young people up to the age of 25 do not pay income tax at all, which means that as of 1 January next year they will be able to earn HRK 72,000 a year without being in the tax bracket.
With regard to an increase in non-taxable income from HRK 4,000 to HRK 5,000, which was proposed by the Social Democratic Party, Zrinušić said that that would affect the income of local government units and only a small number of taxpayers would benefit.
According to calculations, raising the non-taxable income threshold to HRK 5,000 would not mean any savings for 588,000 taxpayers while 573,000 would save between HRK 200 and 300, he said.
On the other hand, a HRK 100 increase in the non-taxable income threshold means HRK 240 million less for local government units, while a HRK 1,000 increase would mean HRK 2.4 billion less income for those units, Zrinušić said.
(€1 = HRK 7.5)