Estonian employers want employees to pay social tax

TALLINN - The Confederation of Employers wishes to initiate a wider public debate on operating the health care system and proposes to change the social tax that is paid by employees, similarly to income tax, writes LETA/Postimees Online.

The organization stated that currently employers finance the Health Insurance Fund, although the fund’s services are used by employees that have no direct interest in the matter of medical insurance tax rate and distribution of collected resources.

“Entrepreneurs are dissatisfied with the fact that they are paying social tax to guarantee medical insurance coverage for their employees, but as the strike demonstrates they do not get the coverage, as the insurance system does not work,” said the head of the Employers’ Confederation Tarmo Kriis.

He asserted that the Estonian social tax system – where the tax is only paid by employers and employees have no financial or moral contribution – is a unique in Europe.

The organization also expressed its concern that the strike that has from the very beginning reached outside the scope of a labor dispute has started dragging on.