Mar 10, 2010 - IMF says property taxes much too low...
RIGA - The International Monetary Fund is advising Latvia to increase its assessed property valuations, after the group’s technical mission determined that the assessed property values in major cities are lower than their market values, reports business daily Biznes&Baltija. The international lender is in addition pushing for an adjustment of assessed valuations for real estate, to co...
Mar 10, 2010 - Riga Council in civil rights attack...
RIGA - Riga Mayor Nils Usakovs (Harmony Center - in photo to right) says he will not be ordering any re-review of the decision made last week banning all scheduled assemblies at the Freedom Monument March 16, the traditional WWII Latvian Legion Day commemorating Latvian soldiers’ struggle to rid Latvia of Soviet Red Army forces. The municipality said it had arrived at the decision based o...
Mar 03, 2010 - Latvia goes dry September 1...
RIGA - Latvia’s parliament banned alcohol sales on Sept. 1, which marks the first day of school in all former Soviet Union countries, often laden with intoxicated youths getting themselves into trouble. MPs say this measure is a part of an anti-alcohol campaign, but businessmen who say they will suffer losses because of the new law are sure it is nothing but a part of the parliament...
Feb 24, 2010 - Zatlers stresses good neighborly relations...
RIGA - President Valdis Zatlers believes that his participation in the May 9 celebrations in Moscow will contribute to social harmony and unity in Latvia, as well as in the furthering of international relations, reports news agency LETA. Zatlers has said that without leaving behind the awareness of Latvian and Baltic history and the Soviet occupation which followed the Second World War, with it...
Feb 24, 2010 - Court may block further spending cuts...
RIGA - Prime Minister Valdis Dombrovskis (New Era), in an interview with the Latvian State Radio ‘Program 4,’ said he believes that further deficit reduction will be achieved through spending cuts rather than tax increases, reports news agency LETA. The prime minister indicated that up to now, Latvia has been on “the road of reductions in budget spending,” and that in th...