Kelemen Hunor argues for higher taxation of 'luck' as part of several amendments to new Fiscal Code

Deputy Prime Minister Kelemen Hunor, leader of the Hungarian Democratic Union of Romania (UDMR), said on Tuesday evening that there will be several changes in the future Fiscal Code, but these are discussed with representatives of local authorities and those in the economic area, one of which is the taxation of gambling.

"It was a draft law put up for public debate and other opinions from society are emerging. There were some meetings with the representatives of the mayors, the local authorities, with representatives from the economic area and of course from HoReCa. And in such situations it is natural to listen to their arguments and possibly make some changes (...) For HoReCa, the conclusion is that what the Government is proposing stands, although not from August 1, but from January 1. In the end, it is a correct approach, because the tourist season is underway, on the one hand, on the other hand the law says to wait 6 months, not to implement the amendment to the Fiscal Code, in the Fiscal Procedure Code. (...) There are other small changes related to SMEs, related of micro-enterprises, related to gambling, where we are proceeding with a higher taxation. That was our proposal and we argue - if you tax work, you must tax luck, there is no other way. But there are still small changes ... until the form that will be adopted in the Government is achieved," Kelemen Hunor told private broadcaster B1 TV.

With regard to the property tax, he pointed out that there have been discussions since the beginning about the minimum threshold, the value to which this tax relates, whether a minimum threshold, respectively a maximum threshold will be left for mayors to decide.

Kelemen Hunor said, on the other hand, that there are several cases in Bucharest, in the country, respectively 20-30 micro enterprises with one person, without any employees, with a turnover of one million each, with minimum fees of 3 % and owner of more than half of the blocks of flats built by micro-enterprises.

According to him, Romania is still below the European average when it comes to collecting money from the budget, especially from VAT. "And there we have to make an effort, unfortunately we have not made so far. (...) First of all, invoicing, digitalization. And this is what ANAF [the Tax Administration Authority] is doing, at a very high pace," the Deputy Prime minister went on to say. AGERPRES