According to Minister Ahmetaj, the Democratic Party in its economic program has promised twofold increase in per capita income. But, he emphasizes, DP does not set out the timeline when it will be able to deliver on this promise

Ahmetaj considers the promise to reduce the social security contributions as a dangerous scheme which risks the citizens’ retirement pensions.

On the other hand, Minister Ahmetaj says that the flat tax promised by DP means an increase in income tax for almost 95% of citizens, relieving only about 5% from fiscal burden.

“They will impose a flat tax of 9% on income from salaries – that is, tax raise for all salaries up to 100 thousand ALL / month; impoverishment tax for 94.5% of employees; tax cuts for only 5.5% of them! A citizen with a salary of 35 thousand ALL / month pays 1% in fair progressive tax and 9% in flat tax. Income tax increases by 31 thousand ALL per year. Practically, the state takes a monthly salary out of the citizens’ pocket every year. A citizen with a salary of up to 35-40 thousand ALL / month pays 2.6% tax in progressive tax and 9% in flat tax. The income tax increases 280 dollars per year, ” Ahmetaj says.

The second promise in DP program was reduction of the corporate tax from 15% to 9%.

So, Ahmetaj explains, it means that 10 thousand large enterprises benefit at the expense of 100 thousand small businesses.

“With the flat tax of 9%, 10 thousand large companies save 14.5 billion ALL. With the fair progressive tax, in the last 8 years, big business taxes have increased 460% compared to 2013, “ said Ahmetaj.
Ahmetaj also outlined the effects that the Democratic Party program will have on the small business.

“They impose a tax of 0.5% on turnover for small businesses. 20 million dollars at the expense of small business, when 100 thousand businesses pay 0 taxes today,” he said.

Regarding the promise to reduce the circulation tax, the Minister said that the effect of this measure on the budget would be -14.4 billion ALL.

“Reducing the circulation tax by 20 lek on the price of fuel and by 4 lek the VAT, 24 lek / liter, given that the annual fuel consumption is about 480 thousand tons, has an effect on the budget of -14.4 billion lek, or a decrease of 5% in annual collections from Taxes and Customs administrations, ” said the Minister.

The promise to reduce the social security contributions from 24.5% to 18%, according to Minister Ahmetaj, means leaving Albanians pensionless.
/sm/