TAXES

The Cabinet will propose a flat personal income tax of 15 percent and seek to gradually reduce corporate income tax from 24 percent to 19 percent, the daily Mladá fronta Dnes (MfD) reported March 17. To compensate for revenues lost from these reforms, the Finance Ministry may propose raising the value-added tax. The Cabinet’s official proposal will be made public April 3.

Prima TV has named Petr Chajda its new executive director, Hospodářské noviny reported March 20. Chajda will join Prima in April. He is currently the head of TV Barrandov, which produces Deal or No Deal, among other programs. The paper approves of the appointment, saying it will increase competition between Prima and TV Nova.

BETTING

The Finance Ministry has threatened to revoke Fortuna’s gaming license following the company’s efforts to launch an online gambling service in Malta that would serve the Czech Republic, Hospodářské noviny reported March 19. It is illegal for Czech companies to offer online gambling, though estimates put the local online gaming market at 4 billion Kč ($190 million).

Creditors in the Czech Republic recover only 19 percent of their claims against bankrupt companies, the lowest rate in Europe according to World Bank statistics, MfD reported Mar. 19. The Czech bankruptcy process takes an average of five years. Finland had the highest recovery rate, at nearly 90 percent.

Škoda Auto’s redesigned Fabia model, introduced earlier this month in Geneva, will begin shipping by the end of March, the company reported March 13. The basic model will cost 249,900 Kč, while the de­luxe Elegance configuration will cost 469,000 Kč. Škoda expects to sell 34,000 new Fabias to Czechs this year.

Czech breweries produced a record 19.8 mil­lion hectoliters (514.5 million gallons) of beer last year, a 3.8 percent increase from the previous year and an all-time record, the daily Lidové noviny reported March 15. Domestic consumption remained level at 158 liters (170 quarts) annually per person, the highest average in the world, while exports grew 14 percent, to 3.5 million hectoliters.

Siemens and Eltodo have won a contract worth 156 million euros ($206 million/4.4 billion Kč) to modernize the traffic infrastructure of Prague, the companies reported March 14. The project will last 15 years and equip the city with 10 traffic control centers, each connected to a central computer that, from 2010 onward, will allow dynamic control of traffic lights based on congestion.

French insurance company AXA plans to expand its offerings to Czechs beyond life insurance to include car, house and liability insurance, the company said March 13. Two days later, the firm introduced five new mutual funds for its pension clients. AXA entered the Czech market through its recent purchase of the Swiss firm Winterthur.