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The State Taxes the Humanitarian Donations

The state will take 22 percent VAT (Value Added Tax) of every single Kuna that Croatian citizens and companies decide to donate to the needy. For instance, in last year�s action to purchase infant incubators, a whole new machine could be bought for the money taken for the VAT, and the state ignored all pleas to give it up and not charge it.

The VAT exists for about forty years globally, and is the most perfect tax ever invented, since it is charged for any possible transaction and is hardest to evade. The Croatian state likes it so much that it charges it even for funds collected through humanitarian action and will not disclaim it.

The latest such example is the humanitarian concert for the Tsunami victims organized by Radio 101. The concert attracted quite smaller number of people than expected. The people that went to the concert were unnerved by the information that the state will take 11 Kuna of PDV for every ticket sold.

The contributions donated for humanitarian purposes by companies and private individuals should not be dismissed that easily, and in other states they are actually stimulated with various tax exemptions. In the US the humanitarian donations are even tax deductible.

Croatia exempted from the obligation to pay VAT only the humanitarian assistance coming from abroad, as if the money of the Croatian citizens can�t do that much good.