The abolition of electronic sales registration (ESR) was sent to the Chamber of Deputies for a final third reading on Tuesday. The discussion of the item was complicated, as in the past, by the obstruction of the ANO movement. Members of the movement first tabled motions to amend the agenda for almost five hours and then spoke on the item for over two hours.
The discussion on the abolition of the ESR in the second reading lasted almost two and a half hours. Representatives of the opposition ANO party, which had introduced the ESR in previous years when it was in government, argued why the registration should remain in place.
According to the head of the ANO parliamentary club, Alena Schillerová, the abolition of the ESR would be a step in the wrong direction, and ANO believes that the registration should remain on a voluntary basis.
“The coalition has scheduled negotiations on the second reading of the ESR. This is a step in the wrong direction. It looks like the state budget deficit will be 375 billion, but the government is not solving the crisis. On the contrary, the debt is growing. Then we do not understand why the ESR, which brought 12-13 billion a year and straightened the business environment, is being canceled,” Schillerová said before the meeting.
“We want to put a definitive end to the era in which every sole trader and entrepreneur was viewed as a priori dishonest,” Transport Minister Martin Kupka (ODS) said on Tuesday on the floor of the chamber, filling in for the excused head of the state treasury, Zbyněk Stanjura (ODS).
Revenue registration could finally end at the end of this year. Currently, the ESR has been suspended since the outbreak of the epidemic of covid-19 until the end of this year. It has thus become effectively voluntary.
Tuesday’s sitting was prolonged by the Opposition, as is almost becoming customary in this parliamentary term, with lengthily described proposals for new items to be included on the agenda. The agenda was, therefore, not approved until nearly five hours after the opening of the sitting of the lower house.