Parliament maintains social insurance contributions at current level

The legislative body passed the draft state social insurance budget law for 2013 in the first reading, maintaining the social contributions at this year’s level: 6% of the monthly pay for employees and 23% for employers, Info-Prim Neo reports. Minister of Labor, Social Protection and Family Valentina Buliga said that as a result of negotiations with trade unionists and employers it was decided to keep this ratio. Initially, the executive proposed increasing the salary earners’ contribution by one percentage point to 7% and decreasing the employer’s contribution to 22%. About 1,000 trade unionists Friday took to the streets to protest against the Government’s proposal and to ask Parliament not to back it. According to trade unionists’ estimates, this redistribution would diminish employees’ incomes by over 250 million lei. On the other hand, in a public statement the employers said they support the initiative to redistribute the social insurance contribution between the employer and the employee as this would balance out other initiatives that increase the fiscal pressure on economic entities. Among these initiatives, the employers enumerated the obligation to pay allowances for five sick leave days put on employers, the reintroduction of the income tax, and the toughening up of penalties for violating the legislation. The 2013 state social insurance budget provides for incomes of over 10.5 billion lei, up 7.2% on 2012, and expenditure of 10.6 billion lei, an increase of 8% from last year.