Lithuania needs to consider various options, including an increase in corporate income tax, as the country is looking for long-term sources of defense funding, presidential advisor Irena Segaloviciene says.
All proposals to increase funding for national defense can be considered at the moment, she said, but they must be clearly justified.
“All ideas are worthy of discussion, but they have to be put on the table with very clear calculations of how much revenue it will generate, what are the pros, what are the cons, when it could be done, what political parties think about it,” Segaloviciene told the Ziniu Radijas news radio on Tuesday, asked to comment on the proposal to raise additional revenue for the defense sector by increasing the corporate income tax.
She believes the business community must be consulted on this issue.
For his part, Andrius Romanovskis, president of the Lithuanian Business Confederation, told the public radio LRT last week he disagreed with the suggestion that increasing the corporate income tax was the only way to raise more funds for defense, saying that the business sector is not the only responsible for national security. Besides, it would worsen the investment climate in Lithuania.
The debate on additional defense funding is taking place as the presidential office and some parliamentarians say the 2024 draft national defense budget lacks funds to implement the plan approved by the State Defense Council to create a land division in the Lithuanian army.
Source: BNS
(Reproduction of BNS information in mass media and other websites without written consent of BNS is prohibited.)