Romanian Central Bank governor: I find taxation more burdensome than two years ago

The governor of the Romanian Central Bank BNR, Mugur Isarescu says taxation is even more burdensome now than two years ago. To reinforce his point, he gave as an example the company where he is a shareholder, which paid some EUR 66,000 to the state in a single quarter. “I haven’t changed my opinion that is hard to do business in Romania. I find it even harder. It’s like it didn’t get easier at all. In a quarter, I paid ROL 3 billion. I really find it too much, maybe it is a perception and maybe I am being subjective,” said Isarescu, cited by local Mediafax. His example was given in ROL, the old Romanian currency. The BNR governor believes that these complaints have reached the government and hopes that both tax exemption on reinvested profit and the reduction of the social security contributions (CAS) will give a breath of fresh air to the business sector. Isarescu also said that relaxing the fiscal policy will reduce the grey economy, including illegal labor, which will have a positive impact on the budget, as it happened in 2000 when the tax on profit was reduced from 40 percent to 25 percent, and revenues doubled, reports Mediafax. Irina Popescu, irina.popescu@romania-insider.com