Final Word from Thursday, January 9, 2020
As more and more Czechs lose their jobs because of the economic slowdown, they will start pointing fingers at those who are to blame. Today is the first in an occasional series of Final Words about the job killers who have failed to act on the warning signs. At the top of the list are the legislators who have saddled the CR with one of the highest labor-tax rates in the world. According to the Global Competitiveness Report 2019, only six countries are worse in this respect (Estonia, Brazil, Slovakia, China, Belgium, France). When the "distortive effect of taxes and subsidies on competition" is factored in, the CR (at No. 116 of 141 countries) and Slovakia (at No. 137) stand out as being particularly unattractive as wages rise and investment incentives are scaled back. Obviously, many investors were willing to put up with the tax situation while labor costs were low and business was booming. As wages rise and business stumbles, the calculation for some will look entirely different. [ Czech Republic employment unemployment World Economic Forum burden labour ]
Glossary of difficult words
legislator - a person who makes laws; a member of a legislative body;
to saddle with - to burden with;
distortive - causing distortion or deformity;
to scale back - to reduce something in size, number or extent;
to stumble - almost to fall; to trip or momentarily lose one's balance.