PM Ciuca on amendment to increase local taxes by 50pct: The decision was taken in the coalition

Prime Minister Nicolae Ciuca said on Wednesday, when asked about an amendment submitted by senators from the ruling coalition for a 50% increase in local rates and taxes, that the decision was taken inside the coalition, noting that the option regarding the establishment of these taxes according to notarial grids was postponed after the local administrations warned that that was impossible to achieve before the end of the year.

"It is an amendment that was also discussed at the coalition level, it was also discussed with local administrations, both with the National Union of County Councils, with the Association of Municipalities, cities, towns, each of them coming up and raising the issue that the old formula of the Tax Code provided for a whole series of technical measures, namely raising the tax according to the value included in the notary grids, which, at the level of local administrations, was technically impossible to achieve before the end of the year. That is why it was also requested and won the political agreement for this decision to be postponed; instead the amendment is introduced so that the taxes are increased by 50% over the initial value, from what exists now," the prime minister told a news conference.

Ciuca added that it is about "a decision that was taken in the coalition."

Finance Minister Adrian Caciu said on Wednesday that PSD and PNL senators submitted an amendment to Ordinance 16/2022 updating the property tax grid.

Asked how much taxes could increase, the minister answered that it is not necessarily to increase them, because in the grid approved in 2015, the administrations have a margin for setting taxes.