Pipistrel moving part of production to Italy
Boscarol, who has threatened to move his production out of the country on several occasions over the planed capital gains tax, said 40 employees would be moved from Ajdovščina to Gorizia by the end of the week.
Speaking at an event in Ajdovščina, Boscarol said the move was a response to the coalition agreement, which envisages the inclusion of capital and rent gains in personal income tax calculations, and to nationalisation threats by Left MP Miha Kordiš.
Kordiš threatened entrepreneurs with nationalisation if they continue to protest against tax hikes on social networks after an outcry against the coalition agreement.
"Next week we will have moved the production of most of our models of planes and re-hired 40 workers from Ajdovščina to have more than 50 employees there by the end of the year.
"For now only the production is being moved. I would not comment on a possible move of the development department at this point. But I have no intention of waiting to be nationalised," Boscarol told the STA.
He said that given the fact that none of the senior politicians condemned nationalisation threats he saw them as a political campaign for something that would happen sooner or later.
Boscarol said this was his last appearance in public and in the media, because he did not intend to "waste any more energy."
The coalition's fiscal plans, especially the higher taxation of capital gains, caused a stir among entrepreneurs even before the government was sworn in. Prime Minister Marjan Šarec later downplayed concerns by business and indicated that the tax chapter of the coalition agreement would be re-examined.
Pipistrel has a 6,000-square-metre production unit near the Gorizia airport. Work at the plant started last June and has so far included only final assembly, testing and handover to customers.
But the company is also building a second part of the production complex, measuring some 4,000 square metres. The roof was finished this summer and the hall is expected to be completed towards the end of 2019.
A total of 200 people are expected to work there when the EUR 3.2m project is completed.