Tevdovski: Progressive tax to be introduced for income over MKD 90,000

The Macedonian Government is introducing a progressive income tax, Finance Minister Dragan Tevdovski told a news conference Saturday. MKD 90,000 is the threshold income above which the tax will shift by an additional 8 percent.

Minister Tevdovski presented the tax reform saying that most citizens will pay the same tax as before, with the increased tax applying only to one percent of the population whose income is higher than MKD 90,000.

“That amount,” Tevdovski said, “sets apart the most affluent one percent in Macedonia. It was not fair that those who received the most were able to pay the least.”

In 2017, he noted, one percent of Macedonia’s citizens earned EUR 4,486 per month on average, which was 14.4 times more than the mean national income. This has earned Macedonia the ranking of the most unequal country in Europe in terms of income distribution.

“We gave our word,” Tevdovski said, adding that the Government had promised in its election campaign they would introduce fair taxation. “We believe in solidarity, and it’s only fair that people who have more help people who have less. Only by helping each other we can build a society that provides everyone with equal rights and opportunities.”

He added that the world’s most successful economies relied on fair taxation, especially in Europe and the United States. Speaking of neighboring countries, Tevdovski said, Albania replaced the flat tax with progressive tax back in 2014.