Less than a month after Prime Minister Robert Fico announced that the transaction tax would be abolished, his Smer party said it might stay.
Tibor Gaspar, Smer’s deputy chairman and a deputy speaker of parliament, said on September 22 that the tax would not be abolished in full because the government had not found a way to replace the lost revenue. Changes to the tax are still possible, he said, according to broadcaster JOJ.
The Finance Ministry has not commented on Gaspar’s statement.
The government introduced the transaction tax in April 2025 as part of its efforts to reduce the budget deficit.
It initially applied to companies and sole traders. Since January, however, self-employed people have been exempt.
Fico initially resisted calls to scrap the tax, describing it as “irrevocable” in April 2025.
Then, on August 24, he instructed Finance Minister Ladislav Kamenicky (Smer) and Deputy Finance Minister Radovan Majersky to prepare to abolish it from January 1, 2027.
“Given the criticism of this consolidation measure, I expect the abolition of the transaction tax to lead to unprecedented economic growth in the Slovak Republic,” Fico said at the time, ironically.
He later said the plan could still be reconsidered.
Gaspar now says the government has not found another revenue source large enough to scrap the tax. This year, the state is expected to collect EUR 570 million from the tax.
Slovak National Party (SNS) MP Roman Michelko said that if Kamenicky could not find room in the budget, “then the abolition of the transaction tax is off the table for now”.
Both SNS and Hlas, Smer’s coalition partners, have pushed for the tax to go, although their MPs originally voted for its introduction. SNS publicly welcomed Fico’s August announcement that it would be abolished.
SNS is also calling for lower excise duty on fuel and higher taxes on banks and energy companies. Hlas wants to raise taxes on large food retailers and the gambling sector.
Meanwhile, the opposition seized on the announcement. “Are they making a complete mockery of people now? I promise we will abolish it as the first thing we do after the election,” said Progressive Slovakia (PS) leader Michal Simecka.
The opposition currently has two bills before parliament seeking to abolish the transaction tax. If SNS backed either proposal, the coalition party would breach the coalition agreement. (The Slovak Spectator)