Šrotovné predstavuje selektívnu podporu vybranému
odvetviu hospodárstva. Štát navyše takto motivuje ľudí ich vlastnými peniazmi
(zaplatenými na daniach) ničiť funkčný majetok v záujme zvyšovania novej
spotreby. Deformuje sa aj spotreba – štát dotáciami motivuje občanom ku kúpe
auta, tým pádom im ostáva menej prostriedkov napríklad na investície do
vlastného bývania, zatepľovania, na kúpu iných spotrebných tovarov, povedal pre
The Slovak Spectator dňa 16.3. 2009 Richard Ďurana z INESS.
The car-scrapping bonus, which the Economy Ministry has been granting to
persons who scrap a car older than nine years and buy a new one, will not apply
to cars bought through leasing.
“We think there should be a direct relation between the person who buys a
car and has his old one scrapped; that there should be no intermediary,” said
Vojtech Ferencz, the general director of the strategy section of the Economy
Ministry, as reported by the TASR newswire.
Banks immediately reacted by adjusting their products for those who would
normally buy a car through leasing to make the car-scrapping bonus available to
them also. Some of the banks are offering specific-purpose loans, which usually
involve lower interest rates than non-specific loans, the Sme daily reported.
This kind of specific-purpose loan only for purchase of a car is being
offered by Dexia, OTP bank, Volksbank Slovensko, Unicredit Bank and VUB bank.
Other banks, such as Tatra banka, Slovenska sporitelna, CSOB, Instrobanka,
Postova banka and mBank are recommending that their clients use a non-specific
loan or an ‘American loan’ in which the proceeds can be used for any purpose,
Sme wrote.
The aim of the car-scrapping bonus is to update the national car fleet and
stimulate new car purchases. Similar schemes are currently being introduced in
other European countries.
“The aim is for all member states of the EU to introduce the car-scrapping
bonus, [as] only then it will have the desired effect,” said Ľudovít Ujhelyi, a
vice president of the Automobile Industry Association to TASR.
The basic car-scrapping bonus paid by the state is €1,000; if the new car
seller reduces the sale price by another €500, the state which will increase
the bonus to €1,500. The car-scrapping bonus can generate a total discount for
buyers of €2,000. The bonus applies only to cars with a regular sale price less
than €25,000. The car being scrapped must have been manufactured before
December 31, 1999 and been registered in Slovakia no later than December 31,
2008.
To qualify for the bonus a buyer must deliver a document from an authorised
car scrapper to the new car seller proving that the old vehicle has been
scrapped. The new car seller is then obliged to reduce the purchase price and
can later claim the car-scrapping bonus from the Economy Ministry, TASR
reported.
The introduction of the car-scrapping bonus should help to boost sales of
new cars which have experienced a significant decrease during the first months
of 2009. In
January and February the number of newly registered cars fell by about 40
percent year-on-year, according to police statistics, the SITA newswire
reported.
Measures like the car-scrapping bonus
are ‘unsystematic’ and can be called ‘wasting money of the taxpayers’,
according to Richard Ďurana, director of INESS, the Institute of Economic and
Social Studies.
“The car-scrapping bonus is selective
support to a selected industry sector,” Ďurana told The Slovak Spectator. “On
top of that, in this way the state motivates people with their own money which
they paid in taxes to destroy a functioning piece of property in order to
increase new consumption.”
According to Ďurana, the bonus
deforms the consumption function, as the state is motivating people to buy a car
and then people have fewer resources to invest into their housing, insulation
or the purchase of other products. The state is motivating people to spend
their savings even though the extent of the crisis is unknown.
“Any natural or legal person is entitled
to the bonus, which means we all pay taxes in order to give support to people
who don’t need it,” Ďurana said. Apart from that, he says that stimulation of
demand to purchase cars in Slovakia doesn’t help car production in the country.
“The quantities of Slovak-made cars
that are actually sold in Slovakia are produced in one week and therefore
Slovak auto production is dependent mainly on foreign demand,” Ďurana told The
Slovak Spectator.
The
Slovak Spectator, 16 Mar 2009 Michaela
Stanková
