Millions of M. Majauskas surprised the lawyers. Or vice versa? – Respublika.lt

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The chairman of the Seimas Budget and Finance Commission Mykolas Majauskas wants to examine the pockets of lawyers, farmers and bailiffs. Photo by Irmantas Sidarevičius.

M.Majauskas collected data from the STI as in 2019. Income taxes were paid by Lithuanian citizens who carried out individual activities. And it turned out that the nation’s highest-earning attorney declared $ 4.2 million a year. income in euros. But he paid only 5.1 percent. income tax (say, 214 thousand euros). The ten richest members of this profession earned an average of 2 million each year. and paid about 6 percent. income tax.

There are about 1,900 freelance lawyers in the country. It is true that they are not equally rich, but in 2019 together they declared 122 million. income in euros. A lawyer received an average of 68 thousand for his professional activity. of which EUR 7% was paid to the State.

Isn’t that weird? A millionaire lawyer paid the state 5.1 percent, and his much poorer counterpart 7 percent. According to M. Majauskas, this is a “textbook example of an incorrect tax system.”

Maybe really? Some “farm” taxes are subject to tax benefits, and the state budget receives no additional revenue. M. Majauskas estimated that the removal of some tax benefits would provide the state budget with an additional income of 5 million euros.

“Various business associations in the country have proposed tax cuts for the top earners, and we see how they make a negligible contribution to the country’s budget. Lithuania is a tax haven for lawyers. The state needs to support low-income people, it needs to support the hard-working middle class. They need to reduce bureaucratic obstacles.

But those few thousand who earn not thousands, but millions, I repeat, millions a year, should pay higher income taxes, “said M. Majauskas, a member of Seimas.

And what would we call middle class?

“Those people who earn about 45 thousand a year. euros. There is an absolute majority of them. “

But are these freelancers hiding their real income?

“I think these people are honest,” replied M. Majauskas. “The laws are written for honest people.”

But why would politicians want to control tax collection if there is the State Tax Inspectorate, the Financial Crimes Service and other institutions that control the business?

“The initiative is in the hands of the Government”, assured M. Majauskas, “the Budget and Finance Committee of the Seimas must request the Government a review of the fiscal benefits. An appropriate working group will be created and the Committee will certainly not get ahead of the train.

After mentioning that the conservatives, when going to the Seimas elections, did not seem to promise to increase taxes, M. Majauskas specified:

“Our party’s electoral program has written that taxes must be fair, tax breaks must be reviewed. We have to be consistent.”

The president of the Lithuanian Bar Association, lawyer Arnas PALIUKĖNAS comments on the situation:

“In my opinion, when there is still no real analysis of how much lawyers earn, it is a bit like populism, although I usually avoid saying that word. Politicians can thus oppose individual groups in society. We hear that notaries will also increase their fees. In the public space we already hear on the right, contrary comments that are taken from the context of how much a few or a dozen colleagues earn, and it is determined that others earn in a similar way. They are all leveled as one level. Something similar happened in early 2008-2009, when protesting lawyers began to remove lawyers in court. Because at first the government decided, and only then did it see the number.

Dozens of colleagues receive the highest income. It is not wise to calculate the income of other attorneys based on them.

People are still very confused about what an individual activity is. A self-employed worker is not a representative of the public sector. People think that the income received is the net income of the lawyer, but he still has an office to maintain, internet, telephone payment and rental of premises. The lawyer works with her team, she also pays the fees. An attorney’s fee is not an amount that an attorney puts only in his or her own pocket. Although I face this point of view even as a practitioner during court hearings. This is usually the position of people who do not create jobs for themselves, so those income figures seem different to them.

Vito TOMKAUS trigrašis: In this case, I support the president of the Seimas Budget and Finance Committee, Majauskas, and not the head of the Paliukėnas demagogues, whose defense is nil. After hearing their “arguments”, it appears that other poor self-employed do not need offices, telephones, premises or staff for their maintenance. Paliukėnas lawyers prefer to think about how best to tax bribes, which clients often have to pass on to lawyers through lawyers – how much of that amount is left for lawyers and how much goes into the pocket of the judges for the court to take the necessary decision? PS And for the majority, who receive 45,000 euros a year, everything is fine! Only next time! It would be nice if the conservative Majauskas calculated not only most of the Seimas, but also the rest of Lithuania, the figures would be adjusted slightly.