Bosnia Cantons Say Sarajevo Gets Too Much Cash
One of Bosnia's ten cantons is launching a initiative, challenging the regulations on distributing tax money in the Federation entity, to establish what its says is a fairer distribution of public revenues.
The Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the larger of the two entities in the country, contains ten Cantons, several of which complain that the current system allocates too much money to the Canton of Sarajevo, which contains the capital city.
Officials from several cantons told Balkan Insight on Tuesday that want changes to the law on the distribution of VAT revenues, which make up a key part of the budgets of all levels of government in Bosnia.
Jasmin Duvnjak, vice-president of Zenica-Doboj cantonal assembly, said his canton would be renewing its initiative to change the law, which it already sent to the Federation parliament two years ago.
"We are not satisfied that this problem has not yet been solved. The current law is unjust, discriminatory, economically unsustainable and unacceptable," Duvnjak said.
The current distribution of tax revenues is based on several parameters, such as the population of the canton, number of its pupils, and its overall expenses.
Some officials say other criteria, including the canton's industrial production, should also be included among the parameters.
Duvnjak stressed that much of the country's industry is based in the Zenica-Doboj and Tuzla cantons, which generate more income for the country than Sarajevo Canton.
"We have a situation in which the cantons that produce the most get the least in return," he maintained.
Duvnjak said it was understandable for Sarajevo Canton, as the seat of the capital and the national administrative centre, to be privileged position to a...
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