belgrade - with a foot on the north and an open hand ... - Koha Ditore

Coordinator’s office for the Strategy of North
Goods bought in Serbia and dedicated for Kosovo are released of VAT. According to
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Ministry of Finance secretary, Miodrag Djidic shows that this
loss belongs to UNMIK ,
more
precisely to budget of Kosovo, while budget of Serbia pretends that does not have any
losses.
But, consequently Serbia also has losses because based on the data of the tax administration
of Serbia, during one week
their budget looses 1.5 million euro based on the tax release of the
goods
dedicated for Kosovo market. Although it is a secret how much does Government of
Serbia loose from these non payments, the other fact is that in the vicinity of Zubin Potok and
Leposavic contraband and transport of illegal goods has started to bloom. Very often goods
dedicated for Kosovo territory
end up in Serbia released from many taxes in comparison <strong>with</strong>
the
goods dedicated for Serb market.
Here is another example of petrol, local businessmen benefit a lot from this product. Passing
through the north, a lot of gas stations can be seen. Diesel costs around 0.75 cents there while
gasoline 0.80 cent per litre. Looking at this simple case can be seen clearly the loss caused to
the budget of Kosovo,
but of Serbia as well. Persons from south, who travel in north for
petrol,
automatically avoid all taxes and fees they are obliged by law to pay to the newest
country in the world, Kosovo. At the same time, a lot of gas stations can be seen at the border
crossings 1 and 31, and population from Raska and Novi Pazar, even from a wider region
come to these points, not contributing even a cent to the budget of Serbia, although are
obliged
by Serb laws.
In this sense, public statements of officials from Belgrade regarding non-functioning of
customs seam absurd and their complete functioning of customs
terminals, will contribute not
only to citizens of Kosovo but also the ones of Serbia.
In a document of Kosovo customs where are presented sums of imported goods from Serbia
for year 2007-2008-2009 can be seen:
Border Crossing
Value of imported goods Total of paid
Mitrovic a:
taxes
2007
107.252.659,38 14.775.482,91
2008 75.308.263,42 8.997.369,05
2009
75.046.014,36 10.493.666,91
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Interview conducted on 18.12.2008 in newspaper “Politika” of Belgrade,
Custom’s administration was under
UNMIK, which was transfered to Kosovo Customs
after declaration of Independence of Kosovo
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