Liberal leader and aspiring PM Ilie Bolojan says tax hikes nearly unavoidable in Romania

Ilie Bolojan, the interim leader of the National Liberal Party (PNL) but also his party's expected nominee for the prime minister seat, said that the Liberals are giving priority to cutting expenditures as a way to achieve fiscal consolidation, but hiking taxes is nearly unavoidable.

"We will support a package of measures in which the reduction in state spending is significantly greater than the increase in their revenues, possibly through taxes and duties," said Ilie Bolojan, quoted by B1tv.ro.

"This package is very unlikely to avoid increasing taxes and fees," he added.

Bolojan admitted that it would be better if the increase in revenues were done through better budget collections.

"There is much better room for activity at the tax collection agency ANAF, at the anti-fraud department, and the fight against tax evasion should really become a priority, not just declaratively, but should be seen in higher collections. As long as we are doing quite poorly on the VAT [collection] side, it means that additional amounts of money can be collected," he said.

(Photo source: Inquam Photos/Octav Ganea)