Pension age cap will pass

The legislation setting a pension age cap gained the support of 93 MPs in the first reading in parliament. This would be enough to pass it as constitutional amendment. MPs for the Smer, SNS, Sme rodina and extremist ĽSNS parties raised hands.

The cap of a pension age of 64 years for men and 63 for women would increase the public debt by €372bn in the coming 50 years, according to a fiscal responsibility council RRZ report. The public debt stands at €44bn. To finance the cap, payroll levies would need to be increased by eight points, or €80 per month for an average earner. An alternative would be an increase in the corporate income tax by half, or abolition of all social benefits. Since the cap would reduce the number of workers, the economy would shrink by 9% and the value of new pensions by 10%.

(SME/4)