To replenish the treasury, the chairman of the Saeima Economic Committee, Janis Vitenbergs, stated on the TV24 program Ziņu TOP that one of the solutions could be a "military tax" on enterprises that continue to do business with Russia and Belarus.
In his opinion, this will make competition among enterprises in Latvia fairer.
He claims that economic cooperation with Russia is not decreasing, but rather increasing, even though Russia continues its war in Ukraine: "We have previously noted the need to reduce economic cooperation with Russia and Belarus. We see that this cooperation is growing, and this was the very reason why we demanded the resignation of Prime Minister Evika Silina in the Saeima. The Prime Minister barely managed to keep her position."
According to the deputy, Latvian enterprises are still actively working in the Russian market: "It seems that over the year we are exporting goods worth a billion to Russia. Why not impose a military tax on these merchants?"
Vitenbergs emphasizes that this would be fair to Latvian businessmen who have consciously ceased cooperation with Russia and Belarus: "We definitely need to move in this direction, as is it fair to the other merchants in Latvia who have said they will not work with aggressor countries, while there are others who continue to work and compete with them in the local market?"
