Our party has realized the dangers of “Belgradising” Serbia and has proposed in its program to categorize Serbian municipalities by the level of underdevelopment and to proclaim them so-called economic zones. In these zones, domestic and foreign investors would be freed from paying certain taxes in proportion to the level of underdevelopment of the municipality. In the case of the most underdeveloped municipalities, this means that investors would be freed from paying all taxes, except VAT.

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DSS believes that all citizens of Serbia, regardless of which province, district or municipality they live in, must feel the benefits of economic and overall social progress. So the concern for balanced regional development of all parts of Serbia is our guiding star in the making of all our strategies, programs and projects.

We were also guided by this in the compilation of local programs for 21 cities and municipalities. The main motive for a greater and more systematic involvement of the government in this area must be to overcome enormous intra-regional and inter-regional disparity that impedes development and causes adverse migration flows. We will take concrete measures so the large and strategically important areas do not become uncovered with population, and their resources unused. The scale of inequality in the regional development of Serbia immediately requires a new strategic approach in order to clearly see the ways of achieving the basic goal, which is balanced regional development. The key tasks that DSS has defined in this area are:

• Building an institutional framework for running a policy of encouraging balanced regional development
• Establishment of special economic zones of importance for regional development and special alleviations in terms of taxes, which would include exemption from all taxes except VAT
• Improving fiscal incentives for foreign investment and reducing unemployment in underdeveloped areas
• Strategic investors in the construction of production and service capacities to be enabled the free use of land
• Fiscal decentralization of the tax administration and tax administration capacity building at local level in the administration of local public revenue sources

When we talk about the role of the government in assisting investments for the development of underdeveloped communities, the emphasis should be on tax breaks rather than direct payments that burden the budget. The state should create a map of economic zones in which, according to the degree of underdevelopment, will be determined the categories of tax incentives for interested investors.