EU Joins IMF in Criticizing Latvian Cuts to Tax, Social Spending
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The European Union’s executive arm joined the International Monetary Fund in criticizing Latvia’s decision to lower taxes and trim social spending in the bloc’s most unequal country.
Reductions in income and value-added taxes were carried out without consultation, the European Commission said in a report published today on its website. Cuts in minimum benefits for the Baltic nation’s poorest violated previous accords with the EU and were implemented with no substantial analysis, it said.