PSD leader’s draft law on „tax havens” for islands adopted in the Parliament’s committees

The legal and public administration committees in the Chamber of Deputies have adopted  a draft law initiated by PSD senator Serban Nicolae on tax-exempt for some authorized economic activities, including gambling, on such plots of lands as islands and other land surface areas, including in the Danube Delta Biosphere Reservation.

The Chamber of Deputies is the decision-making body for this bill, which is now on its way to the plenary vote.

So, according to the draft law, certain plots of land, such as islands, narrow strips made by the deposits of a river or sea, as well as the buildings accommodated on them, are exempted of taxes if they are „exclusively used for such commercial activities as renewable energy production, tourism, leisure, public, food-service, retail, gambling.”

An amendment adopted by the legal and public administration committees says that the tax exempt will be applied also to private plots of land, not only to the public ones.

UDMR deputy Marton Arpad proposed an amendment to rule out gambling from the tax-exempted activities, but his amendments has been rejected.

In his turn, USR deputy, Nicusor Dan has proposed an amendment to take out the Danube Delta from this draft law, but his amendment has been also rejected.

In retort, USR deputy Stelian Ion said that Serban Nicolae’s bill has been drafted „especially for the Social Democrats clients”, arguing that tax havens are thus created for those „who have interests in promoting gambling businesses in the Danube Delta and for those who seized Belina Island”.

In May 2017, the National Anti-corruption Directorate opened a case into the circumstances which Belina Island and Pavel Channel on the Danube River have been transferred from the “Romanian Waters” National Company to the Teleorman County Council and further on, to Tel Drum private company, controlled by people close to PSD chair Liviu Dragnea. Former Development minister Sevil Shhaideh is prosecuted in this file.