According to the Central Statistical Office (CSO), in the last quarter of last year the average monthly salary before taxes was 1,610 euros.
In some industries or regions it was much higher. For example, in Riga, full-time employees earned 1,706 euros last year, and the average salary in at least four industries in the country approached or exceeded two thousand euros.
According to the current laws of Latvia, the PIT rate increases from 20% to 23% for employees whose average monthly salary is 1,667 euros.
Thus, a significant proportion of workers in the capital and elsewhere in the country are considered by the state to be rich people who should be subject to additional taxes, although the level of wealth of these people has not increased significantly due to inflation.
The absurd situation did not go unnoticed by employers paying wages. According to a survey conducted by Jumis Pro, 31.8% of business representatives indicated that the personal income tax threshold should be increased to at least 2,000 euros, and another 40.1% of respondents demand that it be increased even above two thousand euros.
Another 14.7% call for a clause to be added to the law, according to which the threshold for personal income tax should not be lower than the average gross salary in the country.
“The rapidly changing circumstances that we are experiencing for the fifth year in a row present new challenges that require preventive measures to be taken. The case of increased PIT is an example of the fact that these “carved in stone” boundaries may not correspond to reality at all, which is confirmed by the opinion almost three quarters of respondents,” says Viesturs Slaidins, head of Jumis Pro.
420 representatives of Latvian companies took part in the survey, conducted at the end of March.
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2024-05-02 16:34:29
