Unionists Protest High Salary Taxes: Romania’s Hostile Labor Market

The National Trade Union Bloc (BNS) is staging a protest in front of the Government headquarters on Monday, demanding a decrease in labor taxes. The protest will be followed by a march to the Ministry of Economy, Entrepreneurship, and Tourism, the Ministry of Labor and Social Solidarity, and the Ministry of Finance.

“In recent years, Romania’s political elite has prioritized capital, leading to the emigration of 5 million working-age Romanians. Today, Romania has the most hostile labor market in terms of social dialogue! Romanian workers have become fiscal experiment subjects for all governments since 1989,” the unionists assert.

3,000 protesters are marching from Victoriei Square to the Ministry of Economy, Labor and then Finance. People are protesting the tax burden in the streets, which is higher than in many other European countries. The protesters claim that 42.8% of their gross income goes to the state, while the EU average is 38.6%.

“The main theme of our protest is taxation in Romania. Today we have a bad situation for those who enter the social category of employees. We are the ones who bear the biggest burdens. This thing has to stop. Why are we making this protest and why are we starting this campaign? Because we want this year, when people vote, to vote in an informed manner. We don’t want to wake up in an election campaign with messages like: “We promise you that we will increase salaries”, “We will increase pensions”, “We will do I don’t know what other shenanigans”. First of all, they will have to explain where this money comes from, and money only comes from the tax system. We have an assumed obligation in the relationship with the Commission, Romania’s fiscal reform echelon. We want to know clearly what this approach is about, because if they come again to tax labor additionally we will have a problem and they will have a bigger problem with us. We want to see what they think about the taxation of capital, assets, and the level of royalties. Think that, on average, they are three times lower than the average of the European Union”, said the BNS trade union leader, Dumitru Costin.

He stated that the tax system, among other things, finances the social security system in Romania, and last year we had more than two million employed citizens of Romania who did not contribute to the pension or health system.

“This year, because it’s an election year, they want to come up with all kinds of tricks. For example, freebies for the basic health package. Then what’s the difference between me, you or you, who pay contributions and others who don’t pay anything? These things are done strictly for the sake of the election. Why do we do it in the election year? It is the only year in which the power is shared. They have had it for four years years, to citizens. It is extremely important that people understand what they are voting for, how they are voting and what solutions they are preparing for the next four years,” said Dumitru Costin.

In his opinion, the promises regarding salary increases cannot be believed in the conditions where Romania’s public debt has exceeded 50% of GDP and according to the Financial Discipline Law, salary expenses should be frozen.

Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu declared, on Sunday, regarding the protest, that in his opinion, deductions must be made for labor taxation in order to develop services, showing that he is tired of doing everything by ear for 30 years, not looking at systems that work.