The IMF does not wish to pay taxes on the salaries of employees at its representative office in Latvia, despite these workers being Latvian citizens according to magazine The Baltic Course. With legal provisions clearly stipulating tax obligations in this case, the Latvian foreign minister says that by not making social security tax and income tax payments, the IMF is acting unlawfully. The IMF’s position in the dispute is at odds with the austerity measures imposed on the country under the current Stand-by Agreement. In its July Letter of Intent to the IMF, Latvia committed to “intensifying [its] efforts to improve tax administration and encourage tax compliance.”