Kasčiūnas proposes tax hikes to fund officers’ pay

Opposition Conservative leader Laurynas Kasčiūnas has proposed raising taxes on lotteries and gambling to raise an additional 35 million euros for officers’ pay in 2027, LRT reported.

Kasčiūnas said the lottery tax rate should rise from 18% to 20%, and the gambling tax rate from 22% to 32%. He estimates the increases would bring in about 35 million euros.

“We are not proposing to borrow and further increase the budget deficit, because we understand the principles of fiscal discipline. We have found a way to provide additional funding without increasing public debt,” he wrote on Facebook.

Kasčiūnas said 18% of positions in public security institutions were vacant at the end of 2024. He also said an officer’s take-home pay was 1,000.78 euros in 2026 and is projected to rise to 1,028 euros in 2027.

He argued that the planned 7.5% pay increase includes a 2.5% rise in the basic salary amount for the entire public sector, meaning staff in the Interior Ministry system would receive an additional increase of about 5%.

Interior Minister Martynas Katelynas has said statutory officers’ pay is expected to rise by an average of about 7.5%, or around 128 euros net, next year. He said current funding does not meet all the needs of statutory services and that the government would seek additional funds.

The National Association of Police Trade Unions has criticised the budget proposal, saying about 35 million euros is earmarked for pay rises while statutory institutions need nearly 86.4 million euros in additional funding.