National chairman of the National Liberal Party (PNL) Florin Citu said on Monday that he had presented measures to downsize contributions and VAT as an economist, adding that those who "ignore" the lessons of 2008 will be responsible for "a major crisis moving forward."
"We will see what we discuss in the coalition. I gave you the solution there as an economist. Whoever ignores the lessons of the 2008 crisis will be responsible for the next major crisis. You may remember that back then VAT was hiked, other measures were taken and the economy barely recovered. The lessons we applied in 2020 have led to the fastest recovery of the economy, so I am putting forth measures to increase the income of all Romanians, because mark my words: it will be complicated. I have heard all kinds of discussions in the public space, for PNL to support a measure that will increase revenues only in the public sector. The idea is to think of a solution to increase the revenues of all Romanians. (...) If we want to help them the solution is to downsize contributions. The other option was already demonstrated in 2016, when VAT was cut from 24% to 20% on January 1 and inflation was cut by about four percentage points. If we want to help the inflation rate, we are putting this solution on the table, a very good solution and inflation will be cut immediately by cutting VAT," Citu said at the House of Parliament.
He also indicated the source of funding to offset the cuts in VAT and contributions. "We have 14 billion euros free from the EU. We have another almost 14 billion from loans (...). All of this is for investment. We already have this money under the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR), some free, some at almost zero interest, plus money from European funds. When we built the budget last year, we already had simulations to cut the contributions through 2024, because we already knew that resources were coming, so it is not something new, something that has not been calculated. It has been taken into account and can be implemented, the goal is to help all Romanians," said Citu.
The PNL leader said that these options will be discussed in the governing coalition as well, adding that he also wants to see what proposals will be made by the Ministry of Finance, Agerpres informs.
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