How Easy Is It to Pay Taxes in Croatia?

In 2009, Croatia ranked 42nd among 183 economies on the ease of paying taxes by small and medium-sized enterprises. Despite this still high position, Croatia went down from 2008, when its score was 39. This suggests a need for reforms, such as the simplification of regulations governing the payment of social insurance contributions

The costs of customs compliance in Croatia in 2001

The purpose of the paper is to show the size and the basic characteristics of customs compliance costs of importers (legal entities and small business) in the Republic of Croatia in 2001. The customs compliance costs comprise those costs that the customs payers incur in order to meet the provisions of the customs laws and the requests of the customs administration. Only the amount of the customs duty paid and any distortion costs arising from paying customs duty are not customs compliance costs. The research was carried out by the face-to-face interview method, in the period from June to October 2002. It was concluded that the Croatian customs compliance costs in 2001 were regressive. It was also concluded that costs were large in comparison with the total customs revenue and GDP. It is estimated that customs compliance costs for importers (legal entities and small businesses) in RC in 2001 were around 1,006 million HRK. That is 0.6% GNP and around 31% of total Croatian customs revenues in 2001. There is not, unfortunately, a single foreign research of the costs of customs compliance that could be used as a comparison. What is more the research faced many problems (e,g. non-representative and small samples) so one should be cautious when using its results. For this reason we would conclude that the primary purpose of this research is to pose relevant questions related to the conceptual and methodological problems of customs compliance cost research. Furthermore it should indicate possible size and characteristics of the customs compliance costs in the RC

The role of non-governmental non-profit organisations in the provision of social services and the palliation of poverty

After introductory considerations, arguments are put forward for non-governmental organisations as exclusive providers of social services. The negative characteristics of the non-governmental organization are subject of the third part of the paper. In the fourth part, the meaning of the social funds is explained (they are a kind of non-governmental organisations), and in Part 5, we explain the importance of the synergy between the government and society in the provision of social services. After the explanation of the situation in Croatia, in the Part 6 of the paper we give our final considerations. In Croatia non-governmental organizations that provide social services are slowly developing. In their further strengthening it is necessary to change the general viewpoints concerning the role and importance of the non-governmental sector in the alleviation of poverty, as well as to achieve better coordination between the state and the sector.non-governmental organisations, poverty, social services

Evaluating the current equalization grant to counties in Croatia

This paper assesses the design of the 2005 equalization grant to the counties in Croatia. Since no allocation formula for this grant has ever been publicly disclosed, this paper provides an analysis and explanation of the aforesaid formula. At the time of its introduction, the objective of the equalization grant was to mitigate differences in fiscal capacities among counties, so our work is focused on fiscal capacities and on whether the new formal allocation rule set by the central government follows the predetermined objective in the grant allocation. This article proves our hypothesis that the new equalization grant does not adequately mitigate the differences in fiscal capacities across Croatian counties.counties, fiscal capacity, equalization grant, Croatia

Assessments of the Effectiveness of the Croatian Fiscal Equalisation Model

No detailed analysis of the fiscal and economic inequalities of local units (at the municipality and city level) in Croatia has ever been published. The Government and the Finance Ministry have endeavoured by tax sharing, allocations of current grants and personal income tax refunds to palliate the differences in the fiscal capacities of local units. However, at the same time the fiscal capacities have not been properly calculated, because during the definition of the criteria for horizontal fiscal equalisation no care has been paid to the economic inequalities nor has there been proper establishment of the way local units belong to a special financing system. The paper, then, tests out the hypothesis that the existing Croatian model of horizontal fiscal equalisation is ineffective, for the Government and the Finance Ministry do not, with their poorly targeted financial instruments (personal income tax sharing, current grants and personal income tax refunds), manage to bring about palliation of the differences among the fiscal capacities of the local units, on the contrary, they tend to increase them.fiscal equalisation, tax sharing, personal income tax, personal income, tax refund, fiscal capacity, Croatia

The administrative costs of taxation and customs clearing in Croatia, 1999-2001

In this article we have endeavoured to show the amount of the administrative costs of taxation and customs clearing in the Republic of Croatia in the last few years, to point out certain problems that exist in the functioning of the departments that collect them and to give some recommendations about how to reduce these problems. Particular attention is devoted to the Tax and Customs Administrations and to the Financial Police (as it was until disbanded). These departments have the task of collecting tax and customs revenues in line with the law, providing citizens with services from their domains that are as good as possible and paying attention to the costs that are incurred while they are carrying out their jobs, both the administrative costs (borne by the tax and customs authorities) and the compliance costs (borne by the taxpayers). In this paper too we have shown that many of the problems that showed up during the first investigation still exist, that is, that nothing has been done for these problems to be eliminated

Utjecaj koncentracije silicija i aluminija u tekućoj fazi na brzinu rasta mikrokristala zeolita A i X

Kinetics of the crystal growth of zeolites A and X was measured during their crystallization, at 80 °C, from an amorphous aluminosilicate precursor dispersed in a 1.4 M NaOH solution containing different amounts of dissolved NaAlO2 or Na2SiO3. The crystallization pathway and fractions of zeolites A and X in the crystalline end product strongly depend on the composition of the liquid phase of the crystallizing system. Analyses of the changes of the concentrations of aluminum, cAl, and of silicon, cSi, in the liquid phase as well as of the dimension, Lm, of the largest crystals of zeolites A and X during crystallization, have shown that the growth rate of zeolite A crystals is size-independent, and that the growth is governed by the reaction of monomeric and/or low-molecular aluminate, silicate and aluminosilicate anions from the liquid phase on the surfaces of growing zeolite crystals. Influence of the composition of the liquid phase of the crystallizing system on the course of crystallization process and on the growth rates of zeolite A and zeolite X crystals are discussed in terms of the possible distribution of aluminate, silicate and/or aluminosilicate anions in the liquid phase.Brzine rasta kristala zeolita A i X mjerene su tijekom kristalizacije pri 80 °C iz amorfnoga alumosilikatnoga prekursora dispergiranoga u 1,4 M otopini NaOH koja je sadržavala različite količine otopljenoga NaAlO2 ili Na2SiO3. Tijek kristalizacije i frakcije zeolita A i X u produktima kristalizacije značajno ovise o sastavu tekuće faze kristalizacijskoga sustava. Analizom promjena koncentracija aluminija, cAl i silicija, cSi u tekućoj fazi te veličine Lm, najvećih kristala zeolita A i X tijekom kristalizacije, utvr|eno je da je brzina rasta kristala neovisna o njihovoj veličini te da se rast kristala odvija reakcijom monomernih i/ili niskomolekularnih aluminatnih, silikatnih i alumosilikatnih aniona iz tekuće faze na površini rastućih kristala zeolita. Utjecaj sastava tekuće faze kristalizacijskih sustava na tijek procesa kristalizacije i brzinu rasta kristala zeolita A i X razmatran je u odnosu na moguće raspodjele aluminatnih, silikatnih i alumosilikatnih aniona u tekućoj fazi