RSS
Finance Ministry proposes tax measures be applied earlier than 6 months after publishing in extraordinary situations
The Ministry of Finance proposes that certain tax measures aimed at introducing new taxes or increasing existing ones and eliminating certain facilities may be applied within a period of less than 6 months from publication in the Official Journal, in extraordinary situations of budget deficit.
A draft Emergency Ordinance published by the institution proposes "the introduction of an exception to the current rules laid down in Article 4 of the Fiscal Code, according to which, in extraordinary situations of budget deficit, amendments and/or additions to Law no. 227/2015 on the Fiscal Code, with subsequent amendments and additions, introducing new taxes, duties or compulsory contributions, increasing existing ones, eliminating or reducing existing facilities, with entry into force in less than 6 months from publication in the Official Journal of Romania, Part I."
According to the Ministry of Finance, in order to solve the problem of the budget deficit, but also of the sustainability of public finance and to avoid the risk of suspending the funds allocated through the National Resilience and Recovery Plan and the Cohesion Policy or of increasing the cost of financing for refinancing the public debt, as well as for financing the budget deficit, measures are necessary which have as their general objective the fiscal-budgetary consolidation of Romania through the efficient management of public revenues.
The institution points out that in the absence of fiscal budgetary measures both for the efficient management of budget revenues and for the efficient use of funds allocated to the financing of public expenditure, the projected level of the budget deficit is about 6.84% of GDP, which in absolute terms is 109, 44 billion lei with immediate consequences on the increase in the cost of financing the budget deficit but also on the funds allocated for investments under the Cohesion Policy with an allocated budget of 46 billion euro, and on the funds allocated under the National Recovery and Resilience Plan with an allocated budget of 29.33 billion euro.
Romania is in the excessive deficit procedure, as it recorded a budget deficit of 4.4% of the GDP in 2019, which led to the initiation of the European Commission (EC) proposal of March 2020, before the activation of the general derogation clause at EU level.
According to the recommendation made by the EC and adopted by the Council on 18 June 2021, Romania must put an end to the excessive deficit situation by 2024 at the latest, the ESA deficit targets set by the Council being 4.4% of the GDP for 2023 and 2.9% of the GDP for 2024, the source said.