Neum, May 28 to 30, 2009 – In organization of the consulting and publishing agency “Revicon” from Sarajevo, X. International symposium was organized in Neum on the topic “European path of BiH in light of the economic crisis”.

The conference was opened by Mr. Željko Komšić, member of BiH Presidency.

In the section “Taxes”, lectures were given on impact of direct and indirect taxes and different system arrangements in BiH, neighboring countries and European Union on alleviating negative impact of the crisis.

Ms. Zdravka Barac, tax advisor from Croatia, presented analysis of VAT rate policy in the EU, its evolution and legal framework, focusing on reduced rates and application of zero rate. Revicon expert presented models of income taxation, emphasizing progressive taxation of income and flat-rate model.

Within the same section, Dinka Antić, PhD, head of Macroeconomic Analysis Unit gave a presentation on “A need for redesigning a VAT policy in light of the economic crisis”. She stressed a role of fiscal policy in combating with the economic crisis, and underlining a non-existence of consistent respond of the EU on the crisis. She presented measures in the field of VAT policy that are being carried by the Member States of the EU. Measures of the EU members in the field of VAT policy are either temporal or long-term ones, focused on solving certain national problem: maintaining of fiscal sustainability, boosting aggregate demand or saving liquidity of companies. The VAT system in BiH is well-balanced and includes the best experience and practice of the EU members. Due to high importance of VAT revenues for fiscal sustainability Bosnia and Herzegovina should keep the current VAT system and prevent an erosion of tax base and revenues, Dr. Antić concluded.