Opposition: Romanian Govt. prepares 0.5% tax on bank assets

Romania’s Government is preparing a 0.5% tax on the assets of companies in the financial banking sector, namely banks, non-banking financial institutions and insurers, said yesterday the opposition senator Florin Citu, deputy president of the Senate’s budget committee. The discussions were around introducing a tax of around 0.2%-0.3% on the banks’ assets, sources in the banking sector told Hotnews.ro. It is still unclear what the new tax will look like and whether it will apply to the entire banking sector or just to the companies that are not profitable. Romanian Prime Minister Mihai Tudose has recently made a series of statements condemning the banking system in Romania, mainly banks that are not profitable. The Prime Minister himself does not use a credit card, nor has any bank accounts anymore, as he receives his EUR 3,300 salary cash, he recently revealed. Hungary introduced a special tax of 0.53% on a bank’s assets in 2010. The tax was later reduced to 0.31% of the assets. Romania has most profitable banking system in Europe editor@romania-insider.com (photo source: Florin Citu on Facebook)