The President of ANAF, Lucian Heyush, explained on Thursday evening on Digi 24 that the state’s revenue was overestimated and ANAF noted that the target could not be met. As for progressive taxation, Heyush believes that Romania is not ready, News.ro quotes.

“As president of ANAF, I can only discuss the revenue part. I don’t have access to some of the costs to see how it was built, where they are, we may have surprises with other costs that may not have been anticipated and come up in the meantime. Fiscal policy is fluid, and disruptions occur in a very short time. It is clear that on the revenue side, revenues have been overstated, as the Fiscal Council said last year in December,” Lucian Geiusz told Digi24 on Thursday evening.

He explained that the levy depends on 3 clear factors: the strength of the country’s economy at the moment, the level of taxation and administrative capacity.

“Our administrative capacity is somewhat limited by the tools I have at ANAF today. I coordinate the Agency during the year, and we work with the tax debt management systems from legal entities, which we implemented in 2005. I was a director in Hunedoara, in Finance, and then this system was implemented and it has been working ever since,” said the head of ANAF.

Asked if he agreed with progressive taxation, Heyusch explained how it might work.

“If we want to discuss theoretically, progressive taxation can work in a state that has a very well stabilized middle class, and as in Romania, we must have at least one million people to fit into the middle class to have an economy that is on the upward trend , for example, when you go to progressive taxation, which means that for those who receive income above a certain annuity, you tax them additionally, these people do not suffer, that they do not suffer, and their lives continue at an almost normal pace, “said Lucian Gayusch.

The President of ANAF added that Romania is not ready for progressive taxation.

“I think that today Romania is not ready for the progressive taxation of the Agency, not from a technical point of view, because if there is a given law, the Agency will do something and apply it. Until 2005, we had progressive taxation, then a single rate was introduced and we worked, found solutions. The problem is, are Romanian taxpayers, citizens of Romania ready to switch to progressive taxation?”, asks Geiush.

He believes that Romanian companies need to leave the single taxation for another 5 years, 10 years, so that they can accumulate capital, grow, or it is time for them to switch to higher taxation.

“I think that we cannot have a serious discussion and effective application of such a tax before 2026-2027. This is a decision that will be made by the parliament, and we as specialists can tell them and show them some data. The decision will be political, as usual,” emphasized Lucian Geiusz.