Restaurants do not lower their hands on this subject
The residents of Vilnius admit: the dishes have become more expensive, but whether it has been less frequent in restaurants – not necessarily. While the kitchen is beating the heat to please every eatery, the restaurant representatives worked in the Seimas. Tried to persuade parliamentarians to reduce value added tax.
« If we stop walking to one or another restaurant, it is not VAT to guilty, probably feeding badly, » said Algirdas Sysas, a member of the Seimas (LSDP).
« Everything is based on emotions now: I want – I don’t want to, I will not accept – I will not accept, » said Evalda Šiškauskienė, head of the Lithuanian Hotel and Restaurant Association.
« Caterers of 1 euro taxes are 22 % and profits cannot earn 22 times more than a business, » said Gediminas Balnis, CEO of Amber Food.
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Entrepreneurs gathered data from the tax office. 21 % Instead of 9, the tariff took 60 catering companies to bankruptcy last year and 27 this year.
« I do not believe that all cafes and restaurants will announce the boycott and close. » Sys said.
But the employment service also warns: hundreds of waiters and chefs will soon be left without work.
« Last year, 99 were planned to be dismissed, and in this quarter we have twice as much as the previous year, » said Brigita Blavaščiūnienė, a spokeswoman for the Employment Service.
Some of the ruling are calling for the tax group to take the VAT relief issue. It may be too late – the unemployed will come up in both Vilnius and regions.
« There are towns where it is the main place where people come together, social life is going on, » said Emilis Ruzelė, a spokesman for the Lithuanian Business Confederation.
« It is a very important sector for the regions: 47,000 employees work. It could not only wipe off jobs, but would also give a negative impetus to the state budget, » said Ekaterina Rojaka, a Member of the Seimas (DS-VL).
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It is estimated that if the difficulties in the catering sector continue, the budget will lose hundreds of millions this year.
« We estimate about 100 million, » said E. Šiškauskienė.
« The VAT relief costs 100 million, » Sys said.
Restaurants say that other countries have already realized that the abolition of the VAT relief was a mistake. Germany and Ireland return to the reduced rate.
« We do not want to ask anything special than the European average, which is 12.3 % of VAT, » said E. Šiškauskienė.
« Our cost structure – salaries have become Western. We would like to make taxes Western, » said Amber Food CEO.
Restaurants and cafes say: when taxes are reduced, new companies would be set up and competition would increase. So dishes would be cheap for people.
Prime Minister Gintautas Paluckas says that there is no place for next year’s budget for VAT. The overall catering sector is still followed, but will monitor the situation.
