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He also highlighted that by continuing to restrict business activities, an estimated 40 percent. The country’s small business owners are facing bankruptcy.
“As the quarantine lasts a long time and the costs are really high, we have requested a higher refund of the market rate of 500 euros. (…) However, we continue to welcome this aid measure, because the tax of market will be available to all who have not entered into a permanent contract with the market and could not receive similar support if only the subsidy for the lease is granted, “said Eltai.
However, Z. Sorokienė emphasized that there is a similar lack of support for many people working under individual activities or business licenses, who do not receive compensation for the rental of business premises. He also criticized the government’s decision to ban merchants from the market located in pavilions and kiosks.
“I raised this issue at a meeting of the Emergency Situations Working Group. It has been recognized that it is an illogical solution in which some people who work under the same conditions can work and others cannot. (…) This is bad because stores in the city with separate entrances can trade, and kiosks, pavilions with separate entrances to open-air markets in the open air, cannot do it. It is simply illogical, legal acts are being prepared, but there is no justification in them Z. Sorokienė said.
“Especially in our writings, we have always emphasized that we are not talking about kiosks and pavilions, which are located in stationary buildings,” he added.
According to Z. Sorokienė, government decisions that violate equivalence principles provoke business opposition.
“I hope that the Government evaluates the situation and our requirements, the possibilities of each object. (…) There is business opposition, which generates distrust in the authorities, questioning the decisions of the expert working groups.
Currently, all companies require permission to resume operations as soon as possible, provided that all requirements are mandatory and to do so as soon as possible. Otherwise, businesses are doomed, ”he said, adding that almost half of small entrepreneurs in Lithuania are otherwise threatened with bankruptcy.
“It just came to our attention then. We estimate that around 40 percent. Traders who are currently unable to operate will go bankrupt,” he emphasized.
Z. Sorokienė also stressed that the government has so far only taken into account a small part of the proposals put forward by the association to help small businesses.
“Small businesses also received minimal funding, a very small part of the promised things remained.” At the beginning, we had many complaints that not all the activities that really affected were included in the support plan and that these people do not earn an income. We made other suggestions, but the small part was only taken into account, “he told Eltai.
Starting Monday, market traders who trade non-food products and meet the criteria set by the government can apply for a non-refundable € 300 market tax refund.
As of February 15, non-food trading is permitted under outdoor conditions from temporary trading facilities, door-to-door trading, under off-premises contracts. The activities are prohibited in the kiosks and pavilions located in the markets.
