Romanian state secretary resigns after tax code controversy

Gabriel Biris resigned yesterday from his position of state secretary in the Ministry of Finance, said Liviu Iolu, the Government spokesperson. Iolu said that Biris launched in public debate several fiscal measures that the Government didn’t stand for. An emergency ordinance draft that included significant changes to the Fiscal Code, including a tax amnesty and social contribution increases for some taxpayer categories, was leaked to the press on Tuesday. Some of the measures proposed caused concerns and controversies and the Government’s political opponents rushed to attack the cabinet on the new fiscal measures. Finance minister Anca Dragu said on Wednesday that the Government planned no such measures and that she hadn’t even seen the respective emergency ordinance draft. She added that she wouldn’t promote such measures. Gabriel Biris, who drafted the measures, wrote on Facebook that he strongly supported the project for changing the Fiscal Code, although it needed to be “parked” for the moment. He said that the proposed amendments were wrongly understood, especially in an election year. editor@romania-insider.com (photo source: Gabriel Biris on Facebook)