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Mayor of Sfantu Gheorghe city Antal Arpad from the Hungarian Democratic Union of Romania (UDMR) declared on Thursday that the solidarity tax proposed by his formation could funnel about 1.4 billion euros annually into the state coffers.
The proposition is for a 1 percent tax charged on companies with a yearly turnover higher than one hundred million euros, a category that mainly includes multinationals.
Antal Arpad said that the ruling coalition has not yet approved the proposal, but that UDMR has no intention to give up this project.
"The proposal hasn't yet been agreed in the coalition. (...) We believe that in these times of social, economic, health crisis and so on, it's the rich who must stand in solidarity with the poor and not the poor should be in solidarity with the poor. With this in mind, we consider that the companies with a turnover of at least 100 million euros can shoulder the burden with Romania's population, these are mainly multinationals. If you look at the list, you'll see that the top 20 spots are held by companies in the car-manufacturing sector, energy, trade and so on, these are mostly multinational companies," Antal Arpad told a press conference.
According to him, the 1.4 billion euros collected from the solidarity tax could help cover the state budget deficit.
"We consider that 1 percent of turnover charged as a solidarity tax over a limited period of 2 or maximum 3 years could help the country's budget cope with the social expenditure the Romanian society needs so badly. We are talking at this moment about 316 companies, so 316 companies meet this turnover criterion of at least 100 million euros, and 1 percent of their turnover means almost 1.4 billion euros per year. So, just figure that 1.4 billion euros means almost 7 billion lei, whilst we are running a deficit of 5 billion, we are hard-pressed because we are 5 billion lei short next year, but this could be a solution. We still want this tax to be enforced," said Antal Arpad, who is also the leader of UDMR Sfantu Gheorghe.
