More than 2,600 persons aged 15 to 29 left Slovenia in 2016, many of them with secondary or tertiary education, and the figure is growing, SBC boss Marjan Batagelj said at a news conference in Ljubljana on Tuesday.

"It is encouraging that some Slovenians are returning home, but with negative demographic trends this won't be enough. We will not be able to take a step forward if there are no concrete and clear measures," said Batagelj, who runs the company operating the world-famous Postojna Cave.

As for taxes, the SBC proposes that companies pay no contributions and taxes on the 13th salary to the tune of 200% of Slovenia's average monthly pay.

Corporate income tax should not rise, because "it is the only tax bait for investors", says the employer association. The lowest corporate income tax rate should be set at 7% and the highest at 19%.

"One should bear in mind that companies usually reinvest profits," stressed Batagelj, also cautioning against rising capital gain taxes.

Presenting a survey among Slovenian finance directors and other business executives, Sonja Omerza from Deloitte said 90% believed income taxes should be cut.

"But what is even more worrying is that 40% of respondents see no advantages in Slovenia's tax system," she added.

The SBC also proposes to the government not to count scholarships given out by companies as part of a household's income, and that these companies get some tax breaks.

Housing would have to be encouraged with tax incentives for developers of rental flats, with Protim Ržišnik Perc director Andrej Ržišnik saying the market was short of 10,000 rental flats, so he understood why young educated people were leaving the country.

Another measure to bring back the young talents who have left the country would be lowering the tax base for their pay for three to five years and rewarding them with shares.

"The latter is a way of making employees, especially the youth, owners," said Špica International director Tone Stanovnik.

And "since the youth has the right to be informed about their employability", the last measure would be making data about the employability of graduates of all faculties publicly available. A letter to that effect has already been sent to the education minister.