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Estonian president signs tax package, 2017 budget into law

Xinhua, December 23, 2016 Adjust font size:

Estonian President Kersti Kaljulaid signed on Friday the government's tax package and the 2017 state budget into law.

Criticizing interest groups and the opposition's plan to derail the bills, Kaljulaid said that the changes to the law now introduced should be analyzed for their constitutionality, adding that the Chancellor of Justice had the means to actually question parts of a law after the president promulgated a new law.

On Monday, the Estonian Parliament passed a bundle of tax amendments initiated by the new governing Center Party coalition government to cancel a reduction in the social tax rate planned by the previous government, accelerate the hike in excise duties as well as introduce a new system of exemptions beginning in 2018, among others.

The 2017 Estonian state budget was also passed by the Parliament on the same day with budget revenues projected to be 9.48 billion euros (about 9.9 billion U.S. dollars), and expenditures and investments at 9.65 billion euros including an increase of 28 million euros for defense spending to 2.17 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP). (1 euro=1.04 U.S. dollar) Endit