Finance Minister, While Counting Taxes, Discovers That Math Isn't His Strong Suit
The state budget is short 10.9 million euros, but nobody knows if that's a lot or a little. Liepāja residents offer to help with a calculator.
The Ministry of Finance announced today that tax revenues are lagging behind plan by 0.2 percent, which sounds so small you'd almost want to envy the minister's math skills. However, when converted to actual numbers, it turns out the state budget is short 10.9 million euros. That's roughly what it costs to maintain Liepāja's Olympic Center for a year, except our sports temple with a pool at least brings joy, not headaches.
The best part is that while the state budget is over-planned by 89.7 million more, municipal budgets have gained 100.6 million less. "It's like Riga mayor's math - he says he has enough money, but we provincial nobles have to check our pockets again," comments local accountant Gunārs.
Most encouraging is the news that alcohol excise tax was collected 25.4% less than planned. Either Latvians have become healthier, or they've simply switched to homemade. Meanwhile, natural gas excise tax exceeded the plan by 45.9%, indicating that the winter heating season was as expensive as a Riga resident's trip to Liepāja.
As a financial expert from Grobiņa notes: "These numbers are like weather forecasts - beautiful on paper, but in reality nobody really knows what they mean." Meanwhile, municipalities continue to hope that somewhere among these millions, money for road repairs will be found.
⚠️ Satirical article. Facts are preserved, but the presentation is humorous. For accurate information, please refer to the original source.