Finance minister Mihai Tanasescu is fed up with admitting in a certain cynical tone of voice that Romania has a load of taxes “due to objective reasons,” with each of these taxes higher than the other, especially when it comes to the workforce.
He is now trying to dump the issue into somebody else’s lap, blaming the managers who, in his opinion, attempt to disguise their lack of efficiency by invoking the burden of taxes as the source of all evil.
“I don’t know if taxes are high or low. But when something starts going wrong in a business, nobody questions the management performance, they just blame it on taxation,” Finance minister Mihai Tanasescu says.
“High taxes are not just empty words; investors only come if they have a business development-friendly environment. Investors do not come to fill the Treasury; they come to make profit. Romania is now in the situation of having to rebuild everything and does not need high taxation unless it wants a lot of red tape, as well,” Marian Milut, chairman of the National Union of Romanian Employers told Ziarul Financiar.
High taxes are not empty words indeed. Milut explains Romania’s taxation is the highest in the entire European Union, especially when it comes to income taxes – 40%. “Even Bulgaria levies 29% income tax. The only country that levies such a high taxation quota is Hungary, but this is yet another country ruled by socialists. Another problem we’re facing is the double taxation of dividends, which leaves no room for companies to grow,” Marian Milut says.
He admits Tanasescu is somewhat right though, “because there are certain unpleasant things going on in the Romanian management.”
While commenting on the new statement of President Iliescu about the taxation of high incomes, Tanasescu says taxes for individuals need to be devised so as to stimulate work.
“From where I stand, we’ve got two types of taxes, i.e. work tax and consumer tax. I don’t think high income makes a person rich, it is the extent of consumption that does that. Therefore taxes on labour must encourage it,” Tanasescu said.
razvan.voican@zf.ro