Tax service chief offers resignation

Take note – story published 7 years ago

Latvian Radio reported Monday that the head of Latvia's State Revenue Service (VID) Inara Petersone has tendered her resignation to Finance Minister Dana Reizniece-Ozola.

The reason for the proffered resignation is not yet clear. In recent days Petersone said a mudslinging campaign was being run against her in social media but had denied it would make her quit.

Just a month ago Petersone say side by side with Reizniece-Ozola and Prime Minister Maris Kucinskis to unveil a major overhaul of the tax service's structure designed to restore public confidence in an organization which is sometimes regarded as little more than a politically-influenced racket by many Latvians.

While that may be over the top, reform of the organization is clearly badly needed. However, since the launch of the reform drive within VID both the Finance Minister and Prime Minister have been less than forthcoming in their backing for Petersone. 

Whether her resignation is ultimately accepted will be a major test of whether Kucinskis' government is really serious about overhauling VID and the issue could potentially cause severe embarrassment with Kucinskis due to sign Latvia's accession to the OECD in Paris on June 2. 

Doing so with a dysfunctional tax service would certainly raise eyebrows among fellow OECD members.

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