Deputy Prime Minister Daniel Constantin told Digi24 that flat tax will not be repealed, but there are discussions about the possibility of introducing, as of 2018, a differentiated tax for certain categories of income.
„There is a discussion to come up, as of 2018, with that tax based on the citizens’ level of income. It is a discussion that we shall have at that moment. The flat tax will be maintained, but there are other options to be considered for other categories of income,” said the Deputy Prime Minister.
„We shall not take any measure to put additional tax pressure on citizens. Citizens endured the burden. They were perhaps the most honest tax payers and there was no discussion to introduce a new tax, „added Daniel Constantin.
Daniel Constantin: In 2017 it is not necessary to ask for negotiations with the European Commission on the deficit limit
The measures planned by the Government for this year would not lead to this level being exceeded, therefore we will not need to negotiate for exceeding the 3% of GDP deficit, said Deputy Prime Minister Constantin.
„There is no such thing as negotiations with Brussels in 2017. Exceeding the 3% deficit would lead us to trigger the excessive deficit procedure.
In 2017 it is not the case to ask for renegotiations, as all the measures that we consider fall into the 3% level„, said Constantin for Digi 24.
The Government has forecasted an economic growth of 5.5% for this year, which in his opinion can be met.
According to the Deputy Prime Minister Constantin, imports growth in 2016 was caused by the fact that domestic production could not cope with high consumption:
„That led to imports higher by 40% in 2016, which means that our welfare has been exported to other countries where the economy grew and produced those benefits that Romanian market needed”, he explained.
Figures from the PSD-ALDE budget, similar to those from the Government Dacian Ciolos project, says Deputy Prime Minister Constantin
The budget is to be approved in the last week of January, but overall, there are little differences between the coalition’s budget and the version left from Dacian Ciolos’ Cabinet, also said Daniel Constantin:
„It is still work in progress, as we had a draft budget prepared when we were in opposition, without having all the data. I believe that certain fine tunings are made now and we shall be able to adopt it at the end of the month (January – editor’s note),” added the Deputy Prime Minister Constantin.
The draft budget for 2017 is based on a budget deficit of 2.99% of GDP and it contains only the wage increases already adopted, announced on Thursday Anca Dragu, former Minister of Finance.
„We have this project that includes a deficit of 2.99% of GDP, which covers only the wage increase, as it was approved through the law already published. Of course, there can be made all sorts of adjustments to the budget,” said former Minister of Finance Anca Dragu.
