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Hungarian Democratic Union of Romania (UDMR) Chairman Kelemen Hunor in Oradea on Thursday said that he has received many signals of panic from mayors about the 2024 budget, as they are unhappy with the income tax going to the central government.
"Colleagues have received the figures for this year and today I've had many mayors call me saying it's going to be a disastrous year. Because after many, many years, the Government has made the following decision: the income tax does not go to the local authorities every week, as we have managed after many discussions, even since 2017, to achieve this wish, that is, everything that means income tax should stay with the local authorities, as is normal," Kelemen Hunor told a press conference, agerpres reports.
"This means that big cities, municipalities, are left with several tens, even hundreds of millions of lei less. And in vain we proposed an amendment to the budget law, the Ministry of Finance did not agree, the coalition did not agree to return to the well-established situation whereby income tax remains at the disposal of local authorities," Kelemen said.
He warned that by the middle of the year, local authorities will again face a lack of money for investments or big projects.
Kelemen Hunor was in Bihor County on Thursday to prepare for this year's elections, "a super election year, not only in Romania, but all over the world," when four billion people will cast their vote.
"Such a thing has never been recorded since written history exists. About half of the world's population will vote and decide the fate of those countries," Kelemen said.
