Final Word from Friday, September 19, 2003
Miloš Zeman will present his own version of public-finance reform next week and will talk about the success his cabinet had in attracting foreign investors. At the same time, a lone employee of the finance ministry is trying to dismantle Zeman's incentive program. Without consulting his minister or the cabinet, Vlastimil Bachor has slipped a passage into the income-tax amendment that would prohibit EU companies that receive incentives from paying dividends to parent companies, unless an equal amount were reinvested in the CR. Coalition leaders are trying to kill the idea before it goes to the second reading next week. Bachor's sneak attack might appeal to Zeman's populist dislike of "rich" foreigners who suck money out of the Czech economy, but it would also seriously damage his one lasting economic achievement by scaring off potential European investors. Bohuslav Sobotka