The European Social Democratic Party (PSDE) has submitted a position paper to the Government and Parliament regarding the “tax and customs simplification” bill — a generous title for a package of legislative amendments that, when examined closely, opens a much less equitable chapter in the relationship with citizens, TRIBUNA reports.

Party representatives analyzed and compared four categories of taxpayers: public servants, farmers, small entrepreneurs, and large corporations.

“We examined each of them according to the same three criteria — feasibility, balance, and equal treatment.

The results do not require much rhetoric: the only taxpayer profile that is practically unaffected is the public-sector employee — whose salary is scheduled to increase precisely through this package and who risks nothing. Peasant households, on the other hand, face a tax increase of more than threefold, amid a fuel crisis and the harvest season, with no transition period.

The conclusion of our analysis is clear: while budget revenues are expected to increase by 5.1 billion lei, farmers and small entrepreneurs are simultaneously exposed on all fronts, without any compensatory instruments.

The reaction of society will be negative: small farms going bankrupt and selling their land, service companies restructuring their tax arrangements outside the country, cumulative inflationary pressure on basic food and services, young taxpayers emigrating, and an increase in the shadow economy.

This is a public policy choice, not an economic inevitability — and, like any choice, it can be reconsidered. All that is needed is the political will to redistribute the tax burden to those who truly have the capacity to bear it, rather than to those from whom it is easiest to collect,” the party stated.

Therefore, PSDE proposes a package of concrete measures that are fiscally responsible:

• Phasing in the tax increase for peasant households over three years, rather than imposing an abrupt 71% increase;
• Compensating the excise duty on diesel fuel used in agriculture, following the example of France and Poland;
• Maintaining the 8% VAT rate throughout the agricultural and food supply chain — for plant and animal raw materials in their natural form, including table grapes and wine grapes;
• Introducing a tax stability clause of at least 3–5 years for SMEs and small family farms, so that entrepreneurs can make plans rather than merely react to crises;
• Explicitly linking domestic tax incentives to access to European investment funds under the EU Growth Plan;
• Automatically indexing the personal tax allowance to inflation, so that the benefit promised to people does not lose its value, among other measures.

“We are not calling for the withdrawal of this bill. We are asking the Government to remain consistent with its own promises: an efficient state that respects its farmers, entrepreneurs, and families — not only in words, but in the letter of the law,” PSDE concluded.