Some 300,000 employed people and 40,000 pensioners will have a little bit more change in their pockets as of November when the second crisis tax bracket is scheduled to end.

The government led by the Prime Minister Jadranka Kosor introduced the crisis tax in August of 2009 in other to stabilize public finances. The tax affected all incomes over 3,000 kunas (409 Euros), which hit 1.3 million people. The first lower bracket of two per cent was eliminated in July, while the higher tax of four per cent on incomes over 6,000 kunas (818 Euros) will end in November.

The crisis tax contributed 2 billion kunas (272.6 million Euros) to the state budget.

Croatian daily Vecernji List writes that the government has abandoned the tax facing criticism that the measure had actually deepened the crisis and lowered the standard of living. It negatively affected personal consumption, what some analysts consider the driving engine of growth.

An analyst from Privredna Banka Zagreb, Ana Lokin, says that the elimination of the lower tax rate in July did not have any positive effects on consumption, leading her to believe that November changes will have little consequence.

"The spending ahead of Christmas will be better than last year. That is the short-term effect," Lokin says.

But pessimism, high unemployment rates and lower salaries will stagnate the recovery of the consumption, believes Lokin, even with the end of the crisis tax in sight.