Romanian Parliament could remove extra excise on fuels as early as next year

The Committee for Budget in Romania’s Chamber of Deputies passed on Tuesday, December 3, a favorable opinion on the draft law aiming to remove the so-called extra excise on car fuels - a surcharge re-introduced in 2017 and also used in the past to boost budget revenues. The Chamber of Deputies will vote on this bill on Wednesday, December 4, local Ziarul Financiar reported.

The former ruling party - the Social Democratic Party (PSD) has pushed this amendment although the current ruling party - the National Liberal Party (PNL) also announced it planned to remove the extra excise on fuel. The difference is that PSD wants to remove the tax starting January 2020 while PNL wanted to remove it starting January 2021, as it can’t afford to lose any revenues next year.

Part of the same package of amendments, the deputies also issued a favorable opinion on removing the provision of the Fiscal Code under which part-time employees are forced to pay the same amount of social contributions to the public pension and healthcare system as full-time employees who are paid the minimum wage. The move was adopted in the past as a way to eliminate possible tax evasion by employers hiring persons under part time contracts to minimise contributions paid to the state even if those employees actually worked full time.

The amendments expected to be enacted on December 4 by deputies will come into force as of January 2020.

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