| Tax Evasion, a National Issue 26/01/2011 |
| (2011-01-26) |
| Last updated: 2011-01-27 14:10 EET |
The Higher Defence Council, a body chaired by the head of the Romanian state, made up of the heads of the main state institutions with economic and security responsibilities, has placed tax evasion and smuggling among the main threats against the economy, and consequently against national security. In 2010, the Council issued a plan that provides for setting up in each county expert groups of officers and specialists.
In their first meeting of 2011, the members of the Higher Defence Council evaluated the performance of the state institutions involved in fighting tax evasion. According to the report issued by the think tank on preventing and fighting the phenomenon, tax evasion was encountered mainly in the sale of products such as tobacco, food, wood and construction material, as well as alcohol.
In 2010, almost 19 million cigarette packs were seized, 50% more than the previous year. Fines worth 46 million Euros were given, and the Ministry of Finance cashed in 15 million Euro as a result. At the same time, the specialized structures of this ministry suspended over 4000 people in their jobs, and issued punitive tax payments worth a total of 1.5 billion Euro. According to estimates, though hard to quantify, tax evasion and smuggling amount to a serious portion of the GDP.
Translated into money, tax evasion costs Romania billions of Euros annually. International donors, as well as critics of the austerity policies adopted by the government last year, consisting of slashed salaries, bonuses and benefits, called on the authorities to take firm measures against tax evasion as a way to reduce the national budget deficit.
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2025-04-03
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