Two thirds of Czechs claim that they do not understand taxes but over a half of Czechs are of the opinion that high-income groups of the population should pay a higher percentage in taxes, according to a survey conducted by the CVVM public opinion research centre.
The survey shows that most Czechs support progressive taxing of people’s incomes. As many as 57 percent of the respondents think that the percentage paid by people with high income should be higher than that paid by people with low income.
Some one fifth even said the percentage should be much higher, while only 4 percent think the percentage paid by people with higher income should be lower.
However, support to progressive taxation has been falling in the last few years. The support was the highest in 2008 when three quarters of the respondents wanted higher taxing of people with high income.
In the current survey, almost two thirds of Czechs said that people on low income pay too much in taxes and nearly a half are of the opinion that taxes for people on high income are too low.
As for the group of people with average income, the opinions are more balanced, 45 percent of the respondents think that this group pays adequate taxes and 43 percent say the taxes are too high.
At the same time, nearly two thirds of Czechs claim that they do not understand the tax system and only less than a third say they understand it.
Individual income tax in the Czech Republic now stands at 15 percent of the tax base. For employees, supergross wage is the tax base, that is gross wage plus mandatory social and health insurance paid by the employer. People with monthly income at some Kc113,000 also pay a 7 percent solidarity tax.
The survey was conducted among 934 people aged over 15 on October 9 to 19.
What percentage people on high income should pay in tax compared with people on low income:
| Feb 2008 (pct) | Nov 2016 (pct.) | Oct 2017 (pct) | |
| Much higher | 36 | 24 | 21 |
| A bit higher | 39 | 38 | 36 |
| The same | 20 | 29 | 31 |
| Lower | 1 | 1 | 4 |
| Do not know | 4 | 8 | 8 |
Source: CTK, CVVM