The Slovenian Finance Ministry has published a proposal for changes to the acts on the financial services tax and the insurance contracts tax, providing for a raise for both taxes from 6.5% to 8.5%, Slovenian Times reports. The higher rates are to enter into force with the start of 2015.

The draft bills were published on October 17th, after Finance Minister Dusan Mramor announced the measure at the beginning of October as part of efforts for a more balanced budget for next year. The financial services tax act, which introduced a 6.5% tax, was adopted in late 2012 and entered into force in March 2013. Other measures aim to reduce the Government's expenses, with the overall target of meeting the target budget shortfall of 2.8% GDP in 2015.

The tax is levied on all transactions involving deposits, withdrawals, transfers, cheques and other payment instruments. Services for loans, guarantees, cash transactions and insurance brokerage are also subject to the tax, but stock market and investment fund transactions are exempt.

The state annually collects around EUR 40m, but banks and financial institutions have responded to it by raising the fees for their services.