The Congress of Local Authorities of Moldova (CALM) adopted a statement by which Parliament is requested to immediately abrogate the new legal provisions concerning the capping or, in some cases, the annulment of a number of local taxes. The local public authorities say that if these provisions are implemented, this year they will sustain losses of 200 million lei.
CALM president Tatiana Badan, in a news conference at IPN, said the given provisions were adopted illegally, with maximum lack of transparency and without consulting the local public authorities. They run counter to the Constitution and are aimed against local self-government. Most of the mayors found out about the new provisions after they were published in the Official Gazette.
Attending the news conference, the mayors of a number of towns said that by capping some of the local taxes and annulling others, the settlements were deprived of the resources needed for cleanup, territorial development, public lighting and other local needs.
Mayor of Cimislia town Gheorghe Raileanu said that a waste collection and processing project was implemented in south Moldova with European funds. But this project can become a failure if the garage collection tax is annulled. They needed almost a year to convince the residents of the town to pay a symbolic tax of 8 lei a month for waste collection. Now their efforts will be reduced to zero.
Mayor of Soroca Elena Botnarenko said that this year they will fail to collect revenues of over 1 million lei into the local budget following the reduction or even annulment of some of the local taxes. The planned revenues were to be used to socially support disadvantaged people and to finance a number of cultural and sports activities. Soroca town was declared the Youth Capital in 2014. As the mayor’s often will not have funds, the projected events will not be organized.
Mayor of Edinet Constantin Cojocari said that the capping of local taxes will most seriously affect the small and medium entrepreneurs working in villages, who will have to pay the same taxes as the filling stations, casinos and supermarkets. For example, a kiosk owner will have to pay the same annual tax as a supermarket owner. Such an approach promotes the interests of large companies and will seriously affect rural economy.
The mayors said they will hold public discussions to which they will invite senior officials, including Prime Minister Iurie Leanca and Speaker Igor Corman. There they will state their dissatisfaction with the changes made to the legislation. They will also submit a challenge to the Constitutional Court so that it pronounces on the amendments adopted by Parliament.
