Poll Shows 75.5% Of Romanians Content With Iohannis’ Start Of Presidential Term
A recent INSCOP poll shows President Klaus Iohannis maintains his popularity nearly two months after taking office.
The poll showed 75.5% of Romanians are content with how the president started his term, 12.9% are discontent and 11.6% are undecided.
The poll, ordered by newspaper Adevarul, was conducted between February 5 and February 10. (Adevarul)
MPs Stall Immunity Vote For Laszlo Borbely
While the Chamber of Deputies was quick to respond to anticorruption prosecutors’ request to investigate and arrest Elena Udrea, MPs are in no hurry to take a vote on the parliamentary immunity of UDMR MP Laszlo Borbely.
The anticorruption department submitted a request to start criminal investigations on Borbely, former environment minister, on February 5 but so far the request has not been discussed by the legal committee, a necessary step before it is discussed in plenary.
“With Udrea, there were arrest requests, which must be answered within three days. The Borbely case will be discussed in the legal committee Thursday or Friday. If we don’t have time, then it’ll be discussed next Tuesday,” said committee president Bogdan Ciuca.(Evenimentul Zilei)
Oil Refinery RAFO Onesti To Be Sold As Scrap Metal
The majority shareholder of Romanian oil refinery RAFO Onesti, has decided to dismantle the refinery, sell it for scrap metal and use the land as an industrial platform for other projects.
The refinery has been shut down since 2008 and has amassed losses of RON2 billion in recent years. (Adevarul)
Government Discussed New Tax Code Wednesday
The Romanian government discussed the country’s new draft Tax Code in Wednesday’s Cabinet meeting. The Tax Code includes fiscal relaxation measures that should be implemented as of 2016.
The new Tax Code sets the value added tax will be lowered from 24% to 20% as of next year and to 9% on food items such as meat, fish, fruits and vegetables.
The government plans to lower the VAT even further, to 18%, as of January 2018. (Puterea)
Romania To Cut Flat Tax Rate From 16% To 14% In 2019
Romania’s government plans to cut the flat tax rate to 14% as of January 2019, from the current 16%, according to the new Tax Code draft.
The flat tax rate cut will diminish budget receipts by RON4.8 billion in 2019, but will also trigger additional revenue worth RON2.3 billion from VAT, social contributions, tax on salaries, and from creating new jobs, with a budget impact totaling RON2.5 billion.
By cutting the flat tax rate, the government anticipates an additional economic growth of nearly 0.5 percentage points, the increase of the number of jobs by 50,000 and an additional investment growth of 1.1 percentage points. (Romania Libera)