PROJECTS
PUBLIC DEBT COUNTER
A Public Debt Counter (hrv. Brojač javnog duga) that displays the increasing public debt could be seen on five LED displays across Zagreb – two on the main square, and one each on Cvjetni Square, Maksimirska Street and Vrbani. Besides five LED displays, citizens could have visited Lipa’s web page to see the Public Debt Counter which displayed not only the increasing total public debt, but public debt per capita and per each employed citizen.
BAROMETER OF COMPETITIVENESS
Lipa's new project named “Barometer of Competitiveness” (hrv. Barometar konkurentnosti) has a goal of changing the way decisions are made about economic policies. A panel of experts will evaluate the Government’s laws, rules and regulations based on the fact that that it contributes to Croatia’s competitiveness or not. The evaluation will be done following the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) methodology.
Lipa started the “Let Us Work” (hrv. Dajte nam da radimo) project with the goal of correcting the amended Contributions Act that was put into effect on January 1st 2019 and it forces micro-entrepreneurs, beginners and board members to pay contributions for full-time employment even though they may not be employed full-time, regardless of their financial abilities.
Micro, small and medium enterprises make up 99 percent of all enterprises in the EU. They create 2 out of 3 jobs.
In Croatia during 2018, 117.942 micro-entrepreneurs (90 percent) employed 255.819 people (27,2 percent), made total revenue of 102,1 billion HRK (13,6 percent) and have made a total profit of 2 billion HRK (7,2 percent).
Without micro enterprises, there will not be any small or big enterprises. Therefore, beginner entrepreneurs have to have a realistic and more favourable treatment than bigger enterprises that are in later stages of the business cycle.
BLACK BOOK
The Black Book (hrv. Crna knjiga) consists of chosen examples of inefficient and irresponsible spending of taxpayers’ money. The examples are curated from public sources, such as media and state revisions, as well as from the reports made by the public. We have gathered around 100 cases in the first year of the project (on our website) and presented 41 of those in the printed version of the book.
The goal of the project is not only to keep a register of such irresponsible behaviour, but to lower the amount of decisions made arbitrarily.
Tax Freedom Day (hrv. Dan porezne slobode) is the exact day out of the year that you stop working for the government and its institutions, some of which we need – schools, hospitals, but also the unnecessary and questionable agencies, institutes, institutions and their subventions, incentives, subsidies and fees.
The average Croatian worker (with an average salary, married, has one child, lives in Zagreb, owns a car, does not smoke and pays the TV fee) works for the government 180 days out of the year (2020.), 1 day more than the previous year, according to the Freedom Day Calculator.
PROPERTY TAX
Lipa has invited the citizens of Croatia to voice their opposition to the introduction of the property tax. Tax burden in Croatia is much too high and we think that there is absolutely no room to introduce new taxes.
Even though property tax was introduces as a replacement for public utility charges, the fact that the Government has proposed another replacement for the public utility charges, it is clear that this would have been a completely new tax for the taxpayers.
The petition against the property tax was signed by 20.000 people in the first 24 hours and more than 150.000 altogether.