Final Word from Monday, May 30, 2011
Právo's headline on Sat. was an eye-grabber. It quoted FinanceMinister Miroslav Kalousek as saying that, "People are losingtheir willingness to make sacrifices when they see the shamelesstheft." A surprising comment indeed from Kalousek ofall people, but the surprise turns to disbelief when one readsfurther. "The finance ministry is doing everything to make thebattle against tax evasion more intensive and more effective,"Kalousek said. In true Kalousek style, he completely turnedthe conversation around. Instead of talking about the thieveryfrom the state budget that has nearly the entire country up inarms, Kalousek reduced the problem to tax evasion. Of coursethe two issues are related, but without the initial theft fromthe budgets in the form of overpriced contracts, the real crookscouldn't be evading so many taxes. We can at least be thankfulto Kalousek for giving us fair warning. After squeezing themasses for more money in the form of VAT, his next step is tostart going after the little fish who cheat on their taxes.
Glossary of difficult words
tax cheat - a person who cheats on his or her taxes; a tax evader;
Právo - a version of the interview can be found at the following link, but it does not include the entire passage we cited;
http://www.novinky.cz/domaci/234695-lide-ztraceji-ochotu-k-obetem-kdyz-vidi-ze-se-bezostysne-krade-rekl-kalousek.html
eye-grabber - something that grabs the eye, i.e. attracts attention or makes an impression;
to be up in arms - to protest vigorously about something.