Shuvajevs opposes freezing the tax-free minimum from 2028
Andris Shuvajevs, head of the Progressives' parliamentary group, criticises Prime Minister Andris Kulbergs' idea of freezing the tax-free minimum for three years. He says it would increase inequality.
Andris Šuvajevs, a member of the Latvian parliament (Saeima) and chair of the “Progresīvie” (Progressives) party's parliamentary group, has voiced concern over one of Prime Minister Andris Kulbergs' proposals for cutting spending. The plan would freeze the income tax-free minimum, the portion of income on which no personal income tax is paid, for three years starting in 2028. The politician set out his position on the TV24 programme “Ziņu TOP”.
Šuvajevs said this particular issue worries him most. In his view, such a decision would be wrong, because raising the tax-free minimum has the most positive effect on people with lower incomes.
“If there is one direction that, in my opinion, is truly wrong and would significantly increase inequality in society, then it is this one,” Šuvajevs said.
Who would bear the savings
The deputy argued that making savings at the expense of people who are already the least protected, and who have limited opportunities to defend their interests, would be a mistake. He explained that the annual increase in the tax-free minimum is what lower earners feel most positively.
The source gives no further details on the content of the prime minister's proposal or its calculations; it only states that the freeze is one of the spending-cut proposals.
