TIRANA, July 9 /ATA/- Minister of Finance and Economy, Arben Ahmetaj, stated on Monday that the fiscal package submitted to parliament for approval is in the spirit of philosophy and programme of this majority to reduce fiscal burden on business.
We relieved the entrepreneurship of the noose the rightist govt. had tightened on them and the aim is to drive economic growth up to 5 percent in order to increase welfare for all citizens, Ahmetaj said.
According to him, this package of incentives, which is otherwise known as the package of solidarity, helps small-sized entrepreneurship propel into development to the advantage of household economy.
The minister pointed out that lowering the VAT registration threshold from ALL 5 to 2 mln did not result in any price hike as claimed by the opposition.
The opposition said if the VAT threshold were lowered, the prices would go up. As a matter of fact, INSTAT has conducted a survey of all entities impacted by the lowering of VAT threshold. The result is that inflation rate in April and May has hit the level of 2% , which has remained unchanged in the course of almost five years
He added, we have seen the index of goods impacted by the lowering of VAT threshold and noted a fall in the prices of many products.
You increased the debt. Not only have wee lowered the taxes, we have reduced our debt. For three years in a row, we have not incurred any debts through our operations, this is how minister of Finance has retorted to the opposition MPs.
According to him, through the policies launched so far we have reduced the fiscal burden for 97 percent of citizens and 91 percent of entrepreneurship in the country.
The package of solidarity, as minister Ahmetaj called it, concerns three fiscal laws, law on VAT, law on local taxes and law on incomes.
In concrete terms, they introduce reduction of profit tax for agrotourism as well as for farmers included in agricultural cooperative societies from 15 percent currently to 5 percent.
Through fiscal instruments like reduction of VAT and profit tax we encourage farmers to join in cooperative societies so the policy of agricultural development will be applied more easily, Ahmetaj said.
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