According to the head of the Bank of Lithuania, in order for defense financing to be sustainable, it is necessary to finance defense in a mixed way from two different sources.
«Permanent supporting defense needs should be financed from additional tax revenues,» said Gediminas Šimkus, head of the Bank of Lithuania, at a press conference on Thursday.
According to him, one-time acquisitions for infrastructure development and military equipment purchases could be financed by borrowing.
In the opinion of Šimkus, a revision of the property tax or real estate tax could also contribute to defense financing, as currently the portion of budget revenues collected from it is small compared to the level of Lithuania’s development.
In Šimkus’ view, even if the temporary solidarity bank tax is extended, in the current economic conditions, much less revenue would be collected.
«The banking system received unexpected, unplanned revenue (…) Now, even if this solidarity tax were to be extended (…) this potential would be much smaller,» said Šimkus, head of the Bank of Lithuania.