Professional Opinions And Attitudes On Tax Policy In Bosnia And Herzegovina With A Special Focus On The Federation Of Bosnia And Herzegovina¹

This research is based on tax policy opinion survey data collected in Bosnia and Herzegovina (B&H) among tax experts. A special focus of the survey was to investigate the consequences of the different institutional environments that exist between the two entities of the country. After having reviewed all previous tax reforms in B&H, the most interesting results suggest that respondents agree on the introduction of a progressive personal income tax (PIT) and excise duty on luxury products, the maintenance of personal and family allowances and the maintenance of the current value added tax (VAT) and corporate income tax (CIT) rates. However, differences exist in the respondents’ perceptions about the introduction of reduced VAT rates, the regressivity of the VAT, and giving priority to the equity principle over the efficiency principle in taxation. Probability modelling highlighted these differences and indicated inconsistencies in the definition of the PIT tax base, namely the comprehensiveness of the PIT base under the S-H-S definition of income.