Where's the money?

Interior Minister Radek John said he would be at the front of the street protests today if the labor unions were able to tell him where to find the billions of crowns needed to avoid a cut in the salaries of public workers. It's a rather risk-free challenge, because the unions aren't very eager to get to the crux of the matter. Certainly, the unions raise a valid point when they say in their budget analysis that the very groups that pushed for the tax cuts in recent years should be asked to contribute more now. Instead, the unions complain, it's those who didn't profit at all from lower taxes who are being asked to tighten their belts the most. What both John and the union leaders carefully avoid discussing in any detail are the tens of billions of crowns being stolen each year from the budget. An increase in this theft is the only logical way to explain how everyone can be asked to cut back next year, while budget revenue and spending remains essentially unchanged. Union leaders need to ask the simple question: "Where's the money?"