Press Review -- October 31, 2017

10.31.2017 By Oana Gavrila

Senate Rejects Bill Banning Convicts From Running For President

The Romanian Senate’s committee for legal matters rejected Monday a draft bill that would ban convicts from running for president.

The bill was voted down seven to four votes.

Liberal senator Alina Gorghiu is the one who initiated the bill and various senators from the National Liberal Party and the Union Save Romania party co-signed it. At the time, she said the bill's purpose was to ”strengthen integrity rules needed for this position as well as people’s trust in Romania’s fundamental public institutions.

Income From Independent Activities May Add Up To Certain Pensions In Romania

Income from independent activities, such as copyright and artistic creations, can now add up to the survivor’s benefit and the disability pension, according to a series of pension law amendments that the labor committee within Romania’s lower house of Parliament passed Monday.

The bill will be put to the vote in the lower house plenary on Tuesday.

Early retirees cannot benefit from income resulted from independent activities.

The amendments to the pension law come after the Romanian state refused to grant a young woman her disability pension because she had earned money from publishing a book.

Government Wreaks Havoc In Business Sector With Proposed Tax Changes

Tension between government and the business sector is mounting after the Finance Ministry announced major changes in tax legislation at the end of last week: 1% tax on revenue for the companies with up to EUR1 million revenue, new taxation of sole traders, changes to taxation of cross-border companies.

“We knew nothing of the proposed changes. We don’t understand why they don’t stick to the principle of consulting with the business sector first. We don’t know where these new changes come from. We will present our opinion on the matter on Wednesday,” said Daniel Anghel, tax partner PwC and member of the Coalition for the Development of Romania.

The Finance Ministry at the end of last week published a draft emergency ordinance on its website, which stipulated the transfer of social security taxes from employer to employee. The step had already been announced. The surprise in this department was the introduction of a 2% tax on the gross wage, which has since turned into a 2.75% tax.

Despite the new tax, the government says employers will incur 2% fewer costs than they do now, that is 39% payroll taxes will drop to 37%.

The drop in total costs comes from the income tax cut from 16% to 10%. This decline is the only good thing about all the changes, as it will come into force on January 1, 2018 and apply to all types of incomes: wages, pensions above 2,000 lei (EUR434), self-employment incomes, interests or rents.

Some Energy Producers May Be Exempt from Trading on Energy Exchange

Producers of electricity from renewable sources and natural gas producers that extract gas from the Black Sea may be exempt from selling their output on the energy exchange, said antitrust body president Bogdan Chiritoiu.

"The problem we have in Romania is our biggest electricity producers are large state companies suspected of corruption, which is why these companies are banned from signing long-term bilateral contracts,” said Chiritoiu.

Romania has drafted legislation forcing all energy producers to sell their output on the energy exchange to avoid price fixing through bilateral contracts, but the move affects small energy producers.