Although the budget is planned to be adopted in its final reading only at the beginning of December, the time allotted for submitting proposals to the main financial law of the country was just... a little over a day.
As expected, individual deputies, ministries, and parliamentary factions have literally bombarded the draft budget for 2026 with their proposals. Traditionally, opposition deputies, and this time not only them, have come forward with suggestions to reduce taxes.
Thus, deputies propose to lower the VAT rate to 12% for catering services and hotel services.
There is also a proposal to set the VAT rate on bread, milk, and fresh poultry meat not at 12%, as stated in the draft budget, but at 5%. It is proposed that this reduced rate also apply to fresh dairy products (sour cream, cream, cottage cheese, ryazhenka, yogurt...), chicken and quail eggs, fresh and chilled meat, and fish.
Notably, deputies from the Union of Greens and Farmers proposed to take part of the budget from the Public Integration Fund so that this money could be directed to compensate for the lost budget revenues due to the reduction of the VAT rate on pork.
Deputy from "New Unity" Gatis Liepiņš submitted an amendment aimed at a more rapid increase in the excise tax on strong alcoholic beverages.
Some parliamentarians proposed to use part of the funds received in the treasury as dividends from "Latvijas valsts meži" to create an emergency medical assistance point in the Indrāni municipality.
First, all these proposals will be discussed by the government, and then by the budget commission of the Saeima.
