Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu said on Wednesday that it is out of the question for fees and taxes for the private sector to increase in 2025 and said that, although he is a fan of progressive taxation, he would agree to keep the flat rate, if it is truly the same for everyone.
Ciolacu was asked, on DC News, if there could be tax increases for the private sector in 2025, as Finance Minister Marcel Bolos hinted.
„No. It is out of the question. I have announced very clearly. I asked him (Marcel Bolos – ed. note) very much to communicate less, because he says bits and pieces. I think he was referring to milestone 207, it is a milestone Mr Citu and Mr Ghinea put in, dealing with tax reform. The truth is that we no longer know what tax system we are in, we are in a flat rate system, we are in a progressive system. I, as a social democrat, am a fan of the progressive taxation system, because it has led to development almost everywhere in the world, but I do not rule out keeping the flat rate. But the flat rate should be a single rate. You can’t buy a piece of land for 1,000 euros or 10,000 euros, sell it for 10 million and be taxed at 1%, if you have it as a micro-enterprise, or at 10%, on income, because this doesn’t happen anywhere in the world,” Ciolacu said.
He mentioned that he agrees with a flat rate, but that it should be the same for everyone, because this rate cannot be differentiated or have exceptions.
„But exceptional income, anywhere in this world, from America to any state, is taxed differently. Once you cross a threshold of one million euros, you have income from a transaction, you have another rate that increases by progression according to the value. At the moment the World Bank and the European Commission are also performing studies and coming up with several options that I will have no problem discussing to see what fits very well in Romania. But I cannot have low taxation, no control and no information from the Ministry of Finance because I do not have digitisation, no digitisation in any city hall to know about property and accumulated income and have tax evasion of almost 10% of the GDP. This cannot continue,” said the prime minister.
AGERPRES
