Press Review - October 30, 2015

10.30.2015 By Gabriela Stan

Fiscal Council: Taxpayers Discouraged By The Way Budget Money Is Spent

Although Romania's tax authority ANAF says the tax collection has significantly increased, the way the budget money is spent is discouraging taxpayers, according to Ionut Dumitru, head of the Fiscal Council.

Dumitru said that the underground economy reaches 28% of the GDP, according to certain studies, and 22%, according to the estimations of the National Statistics Institute INS.

“It’s rather high compared with other European states. The reason– tax evasion. In 2014, consumption rose but VAT collection decreased. Authorities could not explain why VAT collection totaling 0.5% of GDP was lost. But we are clearly talking about tax evasion,“ Dumitru said in a conference. (Romania Libera)

Romania Has Made Progress In Terms Of Voluntary Compliance In Paying Taxes

Romania has made progress in the past years in terms of voluntary compliance in paying taxes, but there is still a lot to be done in this respect and the main cornerstone should be educating taxpayers and improving the quality of services provided to them, according to IMF Resident Representative for Romania and Bulgaria, Guillermo Tolosa.

Tolosa said that citizens should have the perception that the money from taxes is spent efficiently, thus, a close monitoring of expenditures is essential in this respect.

The IMF representative said that taxpayers should feel that it makes sense to pay taxes, and this perception must be supported with equal treatment for everyone, so that all taxpayers would be convinced that competitors also pay the same taxes.

Tolosa said the voluntary compliance principles are hard to implement in Romania, given that many businessmen avoid paying taxes.(Adevarul)

PNL: Nomination Of Iulian Iancu In ACER Board Is Affecting The Image Of Romania

PNL says that the nomination of indicted PSD deputy Iulian Iancu as high official in an EU agency is affecting the image of Romania, and asks the government to withdraw his nomination for the position of member in the Board of Directors of European Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER).

“We consider that the nomination of an indicted official for an important position in a European institution – one of the most important institutions – is seriously effecting the image of Romania,” the representatives of the liberals said in a statement.

According to PNL representatives, PSD deputy Iulian Iancu is indicted by the country's anticorruption department DNA for influence peddling. (Puterea)

Health Ministry Bought 500,000 Flu Vaccine Doses; 300,000 Already Distributed

In the first two weeks since the beginning of the national campaign for free vaccination against the flu, over 80,000 persons in the risk categories have been vaccinated; in this respect the Health Ministry bought 500,000 doses, of which 300,000 have already been distributed to the Public Health Departments.

“Last year, Health Ministry closed a 2-year agreement for 3 million doses of vaccine, so that, based on the receptivity of the population and the medical staff, we made sure we could supplement the vaccine quantities over the 500,000 doses,” Health Minister Nicolae Banicioiu stated.

During the national flu vaccination campaign, children, pregnant women, the elderly, the medical staff and patients with chronic diseases will get flu vaccines free of charge. (Adevarul)

Forming Job Fair Organized On Friday In Bucharest

“Forming” job fair will be organized Friday in Bucharest, at Sala Palatului (Palace Hall), between 10:00 am and 6:00 pm.

The employers operate in technical/production sector and are willing to offer jobs to people with experience or high education as well as to unemployed with high-school or post-secondary education.

Over 30 companies will attend the job fair, offering more than 200 jobs in various sectors.  (Evenimentul Zilei)