The National Commission on the Financial Market (NCFM) has proposed a set of fiscal instruments designed to aid the growth of some segments of the non-banking market, IPN reports.

There is a need to diversify the insurance market, for example, says NCFM vice president Iurie Filip. Today, motor insurances account for some 70 percent of the total, as the market of property, life or non-mandatory health insurances is underdeveloped. “In some European countries, like the Czech Republic or the Baltic states, the sums directed towards life insurances, for example, are deductible, they are free from income tax. In the Czech Republic, the amount is 400 euros. In other countries the deductible amount is not capped, but the policies must be acquired for a certain period, for example of 10 years”, said Iurie Filip.

CNPF suggests that initially the government should exempt an amount equivalent to an average wage (established at 4,225 lei for the next year) in order to stimulate people to get life insurances.

Filip thinks that the 15% deduction from the tax on the income of those contributing to non-mandatory pension funds, as provided by a new bill introduced in the Parliament, is too small. All the more since this amount will also be used to calculate the payable mandatory insurance premiums. “Our proposal is that the deductible amount should be increased to 25% and that mandatory premiums should not be calculated out of it”, said Filip.

NCFM also proposed that both individuals and entities should be exempted from the 7% fee charged by the broker for transactions with shares.

Another proposal is to remove the tax on dividends in order to stimulate people to invest in the securities market, rather than keep the money idle in the banks, where dividends are not subject to taxation.