By Months: Jaak Valge
Total Months: 11
Fully Profiled: 11
12.2024
8 Speeches
The economic platform includes opposition to raising excise duties unless such a move is coordinated with Latvia’s plans and accompanied by effective social measures, such as restrictions on sales hours. Regarding resources, it advocates a cautious approach, recommending that phosphorite and rare earth metals be reserved for future generations until robust and environmentally sustainable technology has been developed.
11.2024
9 Speeches
The economic platform is strongly anti-tax, arguing that new government taxes are detrimental to economic development and living standards. It maintains a critical stance toward the Eurozone, viewing it as the fundamental cause of the EU's declining economic competitiveness against the US and China. Attention is also drawn to the drop in Estonian labor productivity compared to neighboring countries, despite long working hours.
10.2024
8 Speeches
Supports the utilization of critical raw materials (phosphorite) as an economic opportunity, while simultaneously demanding transparency when establishing the concession mechanism. It strongly advocates for the extraordinary taxation of banks, citing Lithuania's positive economic growth following the implementation of a bank tax and Margaret Thatcher's historical example. The aim is to create a considerable economic opportunity for the state.
09.2024
4 Speeches
Insufficient data.
07.2024
4 Speeches
The economic outlook is strongly opposed to tax increases, emphasizing the negative impact of high energy and loan interest rates, which generate billions in additional costs for businesses and individuals. It supports taxing banks' excess profits (as seen in Lithuania) and capping home loan interest rates (as done in Latvia) to stimulate consumption. Furthermore, it views the import of cheap labor as an indirect cause for the stagnation of economic innovation and proposes a national defense loan as an alternative.
06.2024
10 Speeches
Economic arguments emphasize increasing the income and welfare of the Estonian people, rather than growing the size of the economy through cheap labor. The speaker opposes tax increases and strongly supports implementing a bank solidarity tax, pointing out that it would generate three times more revenue than the motor vehicle tax. He sees the current economic policy as deepening the innovation crisis.
05.2024
19 Speeches
Strongly supports taxing banks' excess profits as a solidarity tax, citing Lithuania's successful experience, which generated half a billion euros. It opposes the tax hump (or the regressive income tax structure), which worsens the economic situation of pensioners and other population groups. Furthermore, it criticizes the higher education funding plan, emphasizing the necessity of reforms, given that the private sector's contribution remains the lowest in Europe.
04.2024
51 Speeches
Economically, he opposes measures that rigidify the labor structure, such as sector-specific wage demands, which slow down movement into sectors with higher added value. He advocates for modernizing the economy, increasing labor productivity, and extending healthy life years (which would add 50,000 workers to the workforce). He criticizes mass immigration because it suppresses the standard of living for low- and middle-income workers. He emphasizes that pension increases should be calculated in real terms, as inflation has negated those absolute figures.
03.2024
26 Speeches
The economic platform involves strong opposition to the proposed car tax, particularly due to its discriminatory impact on rural regions and large families. It advocates for reducing VAT on food items to prevent the decline of border trade and avoid prices rising to the levels seen in Finland or Sweden. Furthermore, it views economic stability and controlling the cost of living as essential prerequisites for increasing the birth rate, stressing that supporting children is an investment in the nation's future.
02.2024
28 Speeches
Economic perspectives connect mass immigration with declining labor productivity, while simultaneously advocating for the development of the domestic workforce through higher quality education. They support providing financial assistance to students (larger study loans) so that they can focus on their studies rather than working as cheap labor. Criticism is leveled at the poor competitive conditions faced by Estonian farmers (low EU direct payments and high VAT).
01.2024
37 Speeches
The speaker is a strong proponent of economic stimulus during the crisis, backing tax reductions (VAT, income tax lowered to 18.5%) aimed at boosting consumption and alleviating the crisis. He criticizes the government’s tax increases for fostering inflation and attributes the drop in labor productivity to the mass migration of cheap labor.