VLADO'S J-CURVE
četvrtak, 18.02.2016.
DIASPORA: POST ELECTION HAPPINESS COULD TURN INTO BITTERNESS
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Croatians who have been considering their comebacks from distant overseas countries are now up in arms because they feel that the new Croatian Government will retain counterproductive policies that it inherited from the previous administration. Some of them are relatives, friends or acquaintances. Last week, my Australian nephew, who was on her Asia-Europe business trip, stopped in Zagreb to say hello. She speaks Croatian and often visits my J-curve blog. With her tong-in-cheek sense of humor, she expressed hope that Croatia’s attempt to write the letter ‘J’ will not end up as writing the letter ‘I’. The main reasons for the upheaval are threatening announcements about retention and/or introduction of taxes – something that’s contrary to election promises. Particularly worrying are taxes on foreign pensions. Similar feelings are expressed about the proposed tax on properties that are not being productively used – something that would grossly affect emigrants who live in far away countries. Admittedly, it is hard to justify taxes on properties that lack proper registration and, as such, are open to possible manipulations. One must sympathize with those who cannot watch over bureaucratic processes from the other side of the ocean. Some emigrants are convinced that such taxes were designed by the previous administration to provoke discouragement among those who could decide to return to Croatia. Over the past month, many Croatian ex-patriots told me that their happiness with election results had quickly turned into bitterness. They welcomed announcements made during the election campaign about plans to establish Croatia’s long awaited Ministry of Family, Immigration, and Demographics. Accordingly, many of them have again started thinking about returning and/or immigrating to Croatia but, they say, it appears that nothing will improve back home because the new Croatian Government has no intention to drop or change any of the country’s negative legislation – such as the foreign pensions tax, and the property tax which is planned for 2017. The Government will probably blame the European Union for such counterproductive taxes, says my friend who lives in London, but the truth is that Croatia is a sovereign country – just like the United Kingdom to whom no one can impose measures at the expense of its national interests. Initially, he says, Croatia’s prime and most important national interest ought to be to attract business-minded young people and as many as possible financially independent pensioners. That would liven up sales of goods and services. After that good investors of Croatian and/or non-Croatian background would also start coming. That formula worked very well in Ireland – something that most Croatians from Australia, Canada, Germany, USA and other developed countries believe could most certainly be repeated in Croatia. Croatian bureaucrats might just be following developed countries’ standards, says a Canadian e-mail friend, but they are acting like the peasant who kills the goose that lays golden eggs. The Canadian Croatian friend believes that returnees bring a lot of money into Croatia, including their pensions, and pay taxes via PDV (25%). They directly and/or indirectly stimulate the economy, employment and overall development. Politicians and bureaucrats, he says, should be able to understand that one hundred thousand ex-patriots with tax-free pensions who could come, but don’t, would be worth much more for the economy than ten thousand of those who do return and willingly pay pension tax. According to an Australian friend, pensioners have children and grandchildren who would come to Croatia to mingle with local people of their generation and in many cases fall in love with Croatia – as well as with someone worth loving and spending the rest of life with. But, he says, how does one explain that to Croatian bureaucrats and writers of laws and regulations? The good news is that some young people from overseas countries already live in Croatia. I know at least ten young Australian Croatians who came here over the past eight years. Despite many illogical bureaucratic and legal obstacles, most of them integrated relatively fast and already have their own successful businesses that employ local Croatians. Furthermore, most of them are married with local Croatian partners. That’s the Croatian integration which Franjo Tuđman promoted in the nineties. From a demographic point of view that’s quality that lacks quantity. To achieve quantity, in other words to attract more people from the so called Diaspora, Croatia needs wiser government policies and reforms. Croatia certainly doesn’t need counterproductive taxes and complicated bureaucratic processes. One reform that must happen is a total reform of the now dispersed, asynchronous and inconsistent land and real estate registration, namely “zemljišnoknjižni uredi” and “katastri”. The two institutions must be fused into a single national registry that would for each and every property have only one set of data information and be able to issue single integrated documents commonly known as Deeds. Properties that now have huge lists of living and dead owners cannot be subjected to any form of taxation. I am sure that Croatians at home and abroad agree with Prime Minister Orešković’s appeal that we should stop with our destructive World War 2 debates in order to concentrate on economic reforms. We must calmly, objectively and seriously consider his appeal. However, without smart integrative policies and good interactive reforms Croatia will fall down – far away from the developed world. Instead of returning and/or immigrating to Croatia Croatians will be more and more emigrating from Croatia. In the end there will be no Croatians in Croatia. Only fascists, communists, antifascists and anticommunists will remain – they certainly appear to be immortal. Oznake: integracije, useljavanje, reforme |
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Travanj 2016 (2) Ožujak 2016 (10) Veljača 2016 (8) Siječanj 2016 (8) Dnevnik.hr |
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Opis bloga
Pošto želim barem malo doprinijeti promjenama u Hrvatskoj, koje su neophodne, odabrao sam pojam J-curve za naziv svoga bloga. To je ekonomski pojam u engleskome jeziku, koji mi gotovo nikada ne koristimo. On predstavlja poduzimanje mjera, koje u početku izazivaju naizgled negativna kretanja, u silaznoj putanji, kao kod pisanja slova J, a onda brzi uzlet, koji se zove J-curve effect. |
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