The advance of the Romanian economy, supported by the business environment and the diaspora, can be reversed if the fiscal measures are not the right ones, warns the president of the Concordia Employers’ Confederation, Dan Sucu. He urged the business environment to defend what it has managed to achieve so far and pleaded for a simple taxation system.
Concordia launched today the study “The Fiscal System in Romania: Prosperity, Convergence and Fiscal-Budget Sustainability”, conducted by academics from the Bucharest Academy of Economic Studies at the request of the Concordia Employers’ Confederation. The main conclusions of the study converge towards the unique benefits of implementing and maintaining the flat rate on the Romanian economy.
“At this moment, Romania’s GDP per capita has surpassed that of Greece and Hungary and is approaching Poland’s. And yet, we are not optimistic. What is missing for us to be optimistic? Why do we need these storms in a teacup, scandals of all kinds, politicians punching each other? This progress is visible, it exists, but it can be reversed at any time if we are not careful and do not fight for it.
Who drove this enormous growth? Four million Romanians working in private companies and three million Romanians working abroad,” said Dan Șucu during the presentation by Concordia of a study on the impact of the flat tax rate on Romania’s economic development.
“Our estimate, as the business sector, is that this growth was also based on a simple and easy-to-operate taxation system—the flat tax,” added the Concordia president. “Only simple things work. Make them slightly more complicated, and they fall apart! Nothing is harder in the business world than keeping things simple. This type of taxation is simple, efficient, and easy to implement.
Before, when we relied on a progressive system, if I worked 50% more, I found myself paying 20% more, with the rest going to the state budget,” Șucu concluded.
Dan Șucu also criticized the Executive for the budget expenses with salaries that increase from year to year, he says.
“Last year, budget expenses with salaries increased by 26%, this year they increase again. Why do you have to defend yourself? Do you remember 2010? Led by a weak government, with a gentleman who is now in Cluj, who, unable to adapt his income to expenses, decided to increase VAT from 19 to 24%, in a period when things were going terribly. The result: the crisis prolonged by several years. Some economic criminals. Can this happen again? Tomorrow! We have the obligation to fight against this. This is the subject – what you have worked for so far must be defended. Nobody respects it. They want to spend everything. Too aggressive? On the contrary, we are not aggressive enough. Who are we? For now, Concordia,” Șucu added.
“We have the right to express our opinion and to be consulted,” concluded the Concordia president.
The Parliament’s plenary session adopted, on Wednesday evening, the draft Law on the State Budget for 2025. There were 254 votes “for” and 192 votes “against”. The draft Law on the Social Insurance Budget for 2025 was also adopted. Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu stated, at the beginning of Thursday’s Government meeting, that the adoption of the 2025 budget is “an important signal for all our investors and international partners”.
Prof. Dr. Ionuț Dumitru, ASE, coordinator of the team that conducted the study stated in his turn: “The flat rate regime (along with other factors, such as: NATO and European Union accession) played a major role in accelerating the real convergence of the Romanian economy, stimulating investments and GDP per capita growth and consolidating the middle class. The study highlights the positive effects of the flat rate and shows that a potential transition to a progressive rate in the current phase of Romania’s economic development would not bring significant increases in budget revenues.”
Radu Burnete, executive director of Concordia also said: “Given the budget deficit and the difficult economic situation we are facing, we wanted the debate about taxation in the public space to be based on a relevant, totally independent study, conducted by top experts from the academic area. Public policies should be the result of analyses of the figures behind them and the effects they have on society. Then, let’s look at where we still have work to do for the future, what we want for the economy and society.”