The tax relief was abolished as of 2014 as part of the Slovenian government-sponsored changes to the income tax act.

Some interpret the new measure as in effect meaning a double taxation of income in Austria and Slovenia.

The Apače Civil Initiative, the group which organised the protest, says it will affect those with the lowest income most severely.

"As a result, their income tax payment in Slovenia will be by EUR 1,500 to EUR 5,000 higher," Dušan Cvetko of the civil initiative told the STA today.

An estimated 12,000 to 15,000 Slovenians commute daily or weekly to neighbouring Austria for work, mostly from the north-east of the country.

However, a trade union representative has recently quoted Finance Ministry data showing that not even 3,000 taxpayers claim the special tax relief.

Cvetko said the initiative will seek to convince the government to find an EU-compatible solution in line with the Slovenian Constitution.

Problems regarding double taxation of migrant workers go several years back; the civil initiative started talks with the government in 2007 to avoid it.

It had argued that due to the differences in the Slovenian and Austrian tax systems, Slovenian migrant workers working in Austria were taxed disproportionally.

The talks eventually resulted in legislative changes which introduced the special tax relief.

But last May, the Slovenian Constitutional Court found it in breach of the Constitution, ordering the government to remedy the situation.