TOP15 provisions that affect your wallets in the government program of I. Šimonytė Business

After analyzing the draft government program, 15 minutes invites you to know the 15 most interesting and important provisions that affect both residents and businesses.

1. Something

If the government can deliver on its promises, teachers, retirees, and doctors will certainly be able to enjoy a thicker wallet.

The promise given to the teachers is apparently the most generous. It is promised that in 2024, the salary of teachers will reach 130 percent. median salary, which now stands at around 109 percent.

Teachers now earn an average of almost 1,521 euros “on paper”, and if they increased their salaries as much as promised, they would raise 1,818 euros in the current salaries of teachers.

For doctors, the future government promises to link the motivating salaries of doctors, nurses and other specialists in the health system with the current average salary in the country, as well as to establish the “floor” of salaries.

As for retirees, it is promised to replace widowhood pensions with one-person pensions, which will amount to at least 11%. average old-age pensions with required service time.

2. Knowledge of property and environmental taxes

The government program establishes that the possibility of modifying the corporate income tax will be evaluated by waiving the tax on reinvested earnings.

Efforts will also be made to reduce the budget’s dependence on indirect taxes such as VAT and excise duties.

The document states that the sources of tax revenue that are least harmful to the economy, such as property taxes, environmental taxes, are among the most modest in Lithuania so far, so they will be given priority.

3. Household GPM

The program plans to move into the family (household) as a long-term income contributor.

According to the authors of the document, this would allow a more specific use of income tax for social policy purposes, ensuring that income tax takes into account not only the amount of income, but also the number of dependents available.

4. Investing in research and development

The government promises to encourage both the state and companies to invest more in research and experimental development (R&D).

The program foresees that 1.5% of R&D financing will be allocated in 2024. Gross domestic product (GDP), which includes investment from the public and private sectors.

Last year, Lithuania invested 0.88 percent in R&D. GDP

The government says it will create real incentives for companies to invest in research, so that private sector investment eventually reaches at least the EU average.

5. Radical solutions for ultra-small companies

The new government promises to introduce the concept of “micro-enterprise”: companies with no more than ten employees and a turnover of less than 2 million. by year.

These companies are promised to radically reduce the regulatory burden and consider a package of tax incentives such as penalty moratoriums, a reduced corporate tax rate.

6. Silver economy

People of respectable age are promised to develop tools for work and active citizenship, healthy aging, tourism, entrepreneurship and learning.

The government program requires that older people be able to work and earn as much time as they want and can, and that working conditions are more flexible and responsive to individual human needs.

A silver starter package (training, business incubator infrastructure, experience exchange programs, and state guarantees for business loans) has also been promised for older people who want to pursue their own activities.

7. Lithuanian Strategic Investment Fund

The government of I. Šimonytė is committed to establishing a fund to mobilize financial resources from the public and private sector and invest in the priority differences identified by the state.

The fund would be financed by investments from the Government (budget, road administration, public companies in the energy and transport sectors), the European Investment Bank, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the Nordic Investment Bank.

These investments would be directed to priority state projects, transformation of traditional industry, financing of small and medium-sized companies.

These small and medium-sized companies would receive financial incentives starting at € 5,000. Under this mechanism, small and medium enterprises could receive loans, leases, export insurance.

8. State-owned companies on the stock exchange

The future government intends to have more state-owned companies listed on the stock exchange.

Of the 49 companies of this type, only five are currently listed, almost all of them are listed in nominal terms, so most of the shares are not actively traded.

The program promises that creating an opportunity to invest in strategically regulated Lithuanian companies will ensure that funds from Lithuanian pension funds and insurance companies are invested in the country itself and not abroad.

9. Commercial conditions

The new government promises to move away from excessive regulation of companies and duplication of government requirements for companies.

It also undertakes to consolidate company supervisors, facilitate the start-up and administration of new businesses by reducing the capital stock limit, applying tax measures, strengthening the rights of minority shareholders, and restructuring procedures or bankruptcy.

In addition, the objectives of public authorities, in particular the National Land Service, the State Inspectorate for Spatial Planning and Construction, the Department of Cultural Heritage and the National Center for Public Health, will be redefined to ensure the public benefit without stifling the private initiatives.

10. Business – to Lithuania

The Government of I. Šimonytė intends to prepare a Company Relocation Plan in Lithuania, which will provide legal regulations and tax changes that will increase Lithuania’s competitiveness in the region.

The government program pays particular attention to attracting business from neighboring countries, especially protest-ravaged Belarus.

The program promises to actively cooperate with high value-added business organizations in Belarus and other relevant countries to relocate them to Lithuania.

11. The new institution is the Innovation Agency.

The government program establishes that the network of state institutions that regulate the economic sector will be optimized and the operation of the Ministry of Economy and Innovation will be improved.

A single Innovation Agency is promised, focusing on functions and support measures relevant to innovation policy.

12. Green tax reform

The government is committed to eliminating all tax breaks for fossil fuels used by 2024 and to completely eliminating the use of coal and oil products in the heat sector.

Sectoral tax policies are promised to re-focus on environmental objectives, as well as broaden producer responsibility and ensure that the “polluter pays” principle is applied to reflect the true cost of natural resources.

Savings and additional taxpayer money are promised to go towards strengthening the wave of green change and reducing the tax burden on the most vulnerable.

13. Ten thousand jobs in the circular economy

The program establishes that by promoting waste recycling and the use of secondary raw materials, transforming production and service business models, the Government will create 10,000 new jobs by 2024.

The country’s recycling rate will reach the average for the European Union.

14. Development of electricity consumers

The government promises to strive for every third household in Lithuania to produce and accumulate electricity for its own needs by 2030.

Residents should be encouraged to install solar power plants at home, invest in remote solar parks, and form productive consumer communities.

It also promises to encourage as many electric car owners as possible to install solar power plants.

It seeks to improve regulation and the conditions for the generation of consumers to ensure the availability of investment support, lower investment risks, more flexible conditions for storing and selling the energy produced and participating in innovative business models.

15. Climate neutral government and public sector

The program promises to ensure that the government is climate neutral from 2024 and the rest of the public sector from 2027.

The document states that the public sector must lead by example.

The government promises to significantly expand the scope of green purchasing to make green purchasing the dominant type of government procurement from 2023.

Starting in 2023, public institutions will also be obliged to use only green electricity and heat, to use only clean transportation, to buy goods, works and services only through green procurement.