The combined committees for Economy, Industry, Budget and Public Administration reviewed the bill on Tuesday, following a re-examination request made by President Klaus Iohannis, and following the bill being passed by the country’s Senate.
The committees passed a series of proposals made by MPs of the ruling Social Democrat Party, which see a higher percentage of tax applied to additional income from offshore exploitations, on different taxing categories.
The initial bills sees a progressive taxation system for the additional income, according to its price range. Unchanged from the bill, all income received from gas sold at prices lower than or equal to RON85/Mwh would be taxed at a 15% rate, while that obtained from a RON86-115/Mwh price range remained at 15%.
However, tax rates were upped by between 10% and 20% for almost all of the other pricing categories. For income obtained with prices higher than RON100 but lower or equal to RON115/Mwh, the tax amount was raised from 20% to 30%. Changes were also made for the segments of : RON115-130/Mwh, which was upped to 35% from the initial 25%, RON130-145/Mwh which grew to 40% from 30% and RON145-160/Mwh which rose to 50% from 35%.
The two highest fixed taxation levels set by the bill, for income made on prices between RON160-175/Mwh and RON175-190/Mwh, were also raised, to 55% from 40% for the former, and to 60% from 45% to the latter.
Committee MPs also voted for taxing additional income obtained from practicing prices over RON190/Mwh by 70%, up from an initial 50%.
The bill is set to be voted upon by Romania’s Lower Chamber, as a deciding body, after it was passed by the Senate on September 24. The bill was initially passed by the Parliament at the beginning of July, but was sent back for re-examination by President Klaus Iohannis, who considered some of the bill’s provisions “unclear”.