No decisions in emergency government session

RIGA- After many hours of negotiation in the emergency session ofgovernment, the meeting ended with no results. The ruling coalition has saidthat they will reconvene and come to an agreement on Oct. 3.

Prime Minister Valdis Dombrovskis told the press that a coalition meeting willbe convened before the government emergency session on Oct. 3. The items to be discussedand agreed upon regard:  changes in taxrates, assigning ministers a political mandate for further work on drawing upnext year's budget plan.

Dombrovskis said that along the foreseeable changes in tax policy, thegovernment will analyze the potential introduction of property tax on realestate, taking into consideration suggestions from the Finance Ministry, aswell as the alternative solution from the Ministry of Economy.

The government will also discuss the possibility of changing the means forcalculating residents' income tax, and introduce minor amendments to the excisetax law, raising the tax for wine.

Dombrovskis stated that on Oct. 3, the government should finalize decisions onthe draft 2010 national budget, so that the Finance Ministry could startpreparing the budget.

"We will stay on Saturday as long as it takes to make finaldecisions," said Dombrovskis.