The minimum sales tax is the most painful measure in the government’s package of measures, says Daniel Angel, president of the Foreign Investors Council (FIC).

“There are very few developed countries, I know of only two in the EU (Poland and Italy, which are still negotiating a bank tax), but there are also countries in Africa that use such taxation,” he said.

Speaking about the minimum sales tax for large companies, he said it “does nothing but reduce competitiveness”.

Romania will become more expensive for investors / Which sectors of the economy will be affected

“As a direct consequence, this will call into question the short- and medium-term prospects of continuing foreign direct investment in the economy at the same pace. We will become more expensive, and then we will look at those who will be particularly affected,” Angel explained.

According to him, the main victims are the regulated sectors: energy and pharmaceuticals.

“There are also players who operate with small margins, for example in the automotive and retail sectors. If we look at the automotive sector, the automotive industry provides more than 27% of Romania’s exports. We are going up in price due to the semiconductor crisis, we may lose this advantage over other markets in the region. We are talking about competitiveness,” he explained.

Such a tax, says the FIC representative, is beneficial to companies, which are very profitable to support such a tax.

“Those with small margins are prone to losses. Who can benefit from this?” he asked.

According to his statements, calculations on paper show that we could collect somewhere around 6.2 billion lei from such a minimum sales tax, based on the calculations of the 2022 balance sheet.

“The draft law uses the phrase general revenues, which may include other revenues, for example, from taxes that may be charged additionally. This indicator may be slightly higher. We didn’t have public consultations on this package, unfortunately,” he added. Daniel Angel: African countries have a bank transfer tax / In Italy it is still under discussion

The minimum sales tax is the most painful measure in the government’s package of measures, says Daniel Angel, president of the Council of Foreign Investors.

“There are very few developed countries, I know of only two in the EU (Poland and Italy, which are still negotiating a bank tax), but there are also countries in Africa that use such taxation,” he said.

Speaking about the minimum sales tax for large companies, he said it “does nothing but reduce competitiveness”.

Romania will become more expensive for investors / Which sectors of the economy will be affected

“As a direct consequence, this will call into question the short- and medium-term prospects of continuing foreign direct investment in the economy at the same pace. We will become more expensive, and then we will look at those who will be particularly affected,” Angel explained.

According to him, the main victims are the regulated sectors: energy and pharmaceuticals.

“There are also players who operate with small margins, for example in the automotive and retail sectors. If we look at the automotive sector, the automotive industry provides more than 27% of Romania’s exports. We are going up in price due to the semiconductor crisis, we may lose this advantage over other markets in the region. We are talking about competitiveness,” he explained.

Such a tax, says the FIC representative, is beneficial to companies, which are very profitable to support such a tax.

“Those with small margins are prone to losses. Who can benefit from this?” he asked.

According to his statements, calculations on paper show that we could collect somewhere around 6.2 billion lei from such a minimum sales tax, based on the calculations of the 2022 balance sheet.

“The draft law uses the phrase general revenues, which may include other revenues, for example, from taxes that may be charged additionally. This indicator may be slightly higher. We didn’t have public consultations on this package, unfortunately,” he added.