Keep your head low

When Premier Vladimír Špidla proposed his "millionaire's" tax, some "rich" people thought they were being unfairly singled out for working hard and making a nice salary. Now it's the banks' turn. According to Hospodářské noviny, Špidla said this week that the former state-owned banks should support the government's economic policies because the financial institutions were cleaned up in the privatization process and are now making nice profits. He suggested that they should show their gratefulness by handing out non-market loans. ČSSD is on the one hand planning to lower the corporate tax, but on the other hand it's showing a tendency toward punishing companies that are doing too well. Instead of celebrating their successes, profitable companies might find that maintaining a low profile is the safer policy under the Špidla regime.