PM Adviser Dejus Proposes Fixed Tax for Wealthy Foreigners to Raise Funds Without Tax Hikes

Didzis Dejus, owner of the Latvian manufacturer AM Craft and a freelance adviser to Prime Minister Andris Kulbergs on strategy and the new economy, has used an opinion piece to explain his role in attracting foreign investors and to propose new ways of bringing money into the state budget. The text responds to questions about a possible conflict of interest linked to amendments to Latvia's Immigration Law.

The company and its investors

AM Craft makes aircraft cabin parts with industrial 3D printers and has operated since 2022. Last year it had turnover of one million euros, employed 20 people, paid 220,000 euros in taxes and exported 95% of its output. The company runs at a loss, so bank financing is unavailable, while ALTUM, the state development finance institution, is constrained by the risk of double support.

Dejus is also a co-owner of the consulting firm AS SIAPLG.EU. Since 2024 it has attracted foreign investors who each put in 50,000 euros. Eight investors have made investments and four have received temporary residence permits. He stresses that he does not issue the permits: the Office of Citizenship and Migration Affairs and security services assess each application. He became a freelance adviser on 10 July 2026 and receives no pay from the state.

The Immigration Law

Dejus says the proposals for the Immigration Law that Kulbergs submitted as a member of parliament in February were only partly adopted by the Saeima, and that the adopted law worsened his investors' position: the permit term for investing in share capital was cut from five years to two. On 20 August the Saeima also closed residence permits for real estate purchases.

Budget gap and proposal

According to the Finance Ministry's 30 June forecasts, fiscal space is negative in every year up to 2030, with a shortfall of 936 million euros in 2030. Dejus argues that, with additional factors, the gap approaches two billion euros.

He proposes two solutions: allowing private managers, not only a state-created fund, to manage alternative investment funds that receive foreign money, and adopting a law on a fixed tax for wealthy foreigners, as Italy, Greece and Poland already apply. By his estimate the two measures together would bring hundreds of millions of euros over five years, though they alone would not cover the 2030 shortfall.