Final Word from Wednesday, April 12, 2023

A week is a long time in politics, and readers can be forgiven if they've forgotten that it was ODS that was vowing recently to vote against a VAT increase and STAN that was pushing for an increase in the top VAT from 21% to 23%. Now it's ODS that wants to raise the state's VAT revenue by Kč 24bn (which would be Kč 38bn including the amounts that go to municipalities and regions) and STAN (among others) that is whining. Any VAT hike disproportionately affects those with low income, as STAN is pointing out, but ODS is considering a way of doing it that in some people's eyes is outright asocial. This plays right into the hands of Andrej Babiš, but even more importantly, it sets the coalition parties against each other more than, say, the reduction in the inflation adjustment for pensions did. A week is a long time in politics, and we could be nearing the point where individual MPs, or perhaps even entire parties, start dropping out of the ruling coalition in protest over its asocial policies. [ Czech Republic ANO whine antisocial anti-social ]