The taxes that the government collects generally show how the economy is doing. Well, according to some documents obtained by HotNews.ro, a phenomenon can be observed: companies involved in the 10 main economic activities in Romania, which brought a lot of money to the budget, seem to be in trouble. They declared and transferred taxes to the state more slowly.

Economic issues: differences between what firms say and what they can afford to pay

As for declared tax liabilities, we observe an interesting phenomenon: enterprises pay less than they declare, which points to economic problems that many government specialists think about.

Trade, the main branch of the economy that fills government pockets, is highlighted in this section. This is important because it takes the largest share in the revenue structure: 20% of the total amount is accounted for by Wholesale.

• In wholesale trade, the difference between what the companies declared and what they were able to pay is -576.9 million lei, while in 2022 it was 94.1 million lei. This is an increase of more than 500%.

• In retail trade (except trade in motor vehicles and motorcycles), the difference is minus 271.3 million lei (in 2022 it was 121.1 million lei). This sector has a share of about 9% in total revenues.

• Production of crude oil and natural gas -178.1 million lei (52.7 million lei)

In other sectors, there are small differences, but in the opposite direction.

Income growth has slowed

If in previous years we had a greater growth in tax collections (inflation played an important role last year – it helped the state a lot), then this year this phenomenon subsided.

The increase in collected taxes is 22.3 percentage points lower than the increase recorded as a ratio of activity for the first two months of 2022 and 2021.

In terms of amounts, there was a decrease in the growth rate of revenues from 11.688 billion lei (difference 2022 compared to 2021) to 4.822 billion lei (difference 2022 compared to 2022), i.e. 6.866 billion lei lower.

The difference is almost entirely observed in the 10 largest types of economic activity as a share of total receipts exclusively from economic activity.

Name 10 types of activities that bring the most money to the budget

1. Wholesale trade, except trade in motor vehicles and motorcycles

2. Retail trade, except trade in motor vehicles and motorcycles

3. Production and supply of electric and thermal energy, gas, hot water and air conditioning

4. Extraction of crude oil and natural gas

5. Service activity in information technologies

6. Land transport and pipeline transport

7. Construction of buildings

8. Wholesale and retail trade, maintenance and repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles

9. Activities of directorates (headquarters), centralized offices; management and management consulting activities

10. Production of motor vehicles, trailers and semi-trailers

What can be seen from the analyzed data

The largest cumulative decrease in revenues was recorded for:

• crude oil and natural gas production: from plus 2.337 billion lei (2022 compared to 2021), it reached minus 1.027 billion lei in 2023/2022.

• production and supply of electricity and thermal energy, gas, hot water and air conditioning: from plus 1.987 million lei in 2022 compared to 2021, to +57.3 million lei in 2023 compared to 2022). The result is slowdown.

• construction: from +505.1 million lei to +21.3 million lei. Again, slow down.

• activity in the field of information technologies: from +555.8 million lei to +462.0 million lei, which led to a slowdown.

• wholesale and retail trade, maintenance and repair of cars and motorcycles with +242.9 million lei, plus 179.5 million lei – a slowdown.

In wholesale trade (except trade in cars and motorcycles) there is a decrease in the growth rate of revenues from an increase of 20.6% / plus 1.635 billion lei in 2022/2021 to 9.9% / plus 943.4 million lei in 2023/2022.

In addition, it was established from the documents that the difference between the value of declared fiscal obligations and actual revenues increased, which negatively affected the collection of revenues to the budget. See above.

If we look at the most important increases, comparing the evolution of the ratio between 2022 and 2021 with that between 2023/2022, they were recorded for:

• activities of directorates, administrative offices; management activities and management consulting: from plus 149.5 million lei to +503.8 million lei

• production of motor vehicles, trailers and semi-trailers: from 73.9 million lei to 134.7 million lei.

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