UDMR (Democratic Union of Hungarians of Romania) leader Kelemen Hunor on Wednesday stated that he does not support the progressive tax, which „would be a catastrophe for Romania”, because it would mean losing its attractiveness for the business environment.

„No, not at all”, he answered, when asked by journalists at the headquarters of the Central Electoral Bureau if he supports the progressive tax.

„It would be a catastrophe for Romania to introduce another method of taxation now – the progressive tax, because that would mean Romania losing its attractiveness for the business environment. A growing economy needs this simple tax or single rate in the long term. And I am not talking about the fact that there is no digital system to introduce the progressive tax, I am not talking about the fact that in Romania there is no possibility to calculate the global income. If you do not have the possibility to calculate the global income very correctly, why are you putting the progressive tax on the salary? You have done nothing. So there are no conditions and it would be a mistake to introduce the progressive tax at the time when you need growth, you need new jobs,” explained the UDMR leader.

According to him, the budget deficit must be reduced, and „this means some social costs, but especially costs regarding the central administration, because there is a waste there, first of all”.

„If you look at the number of civil servants here and in other states and make a comparison, you will see that here the state has grown enormously and does not provide services. It grows, it grows, but when you meet an institution it doesn’t help you, so this is where we need to change things, on the one hand. On the other hand, the tax on labour must be reduced, because it is the biggest burden for us. The collection of taxes is the most important thing, because you impose new taxes or increases in vain if you are not able to collect those taxes,” argued Kelemen Hunor.

The UDMR representatives submitted, on Wednesday, to the Central Electoral Bureau, the list with over 270,000 signatures for the parliamentary and presidential elections, respectively the list for the diaspora, the leader of the formation, Kelemen Hunor, being a candidate for the post of president of Romania for the fourth time.

AGERPRES