Austerity measures beyond the cold figures. “This is how a pizzeria disappears slowly. Not lazy, not burnt, but suffocated by costs.”
Probably the biggest impact of austerity measures will manifest at the level of small companies. A businessman from Cluj explains how small businesses can disappear, although they are administered by hard -working entrepreneurs and generate valuable products.
What impact the fiscal measures on entrepreneurs have. Photo: Alexandra Georgescu
There is not, for the moment, a study that estimates the effects of fiscal -budgetary measures entered into force on August 1, 2025 in Romania on small companies.
Some measures have a direct impact on them, for example the standard VAT increased to 21 %, directly affecting margins in food and non-food trade. Larger excise duties on fuels and tobacco increases logistics (transport, storage), reflecting in prices for local retail.
The threshold for the application of the micro regime has been reduced (from revenues of € 500,000 in 2024 to € 250,000 in 2025), which forces small retail companies to switch to profit tax, with higher rates and increased administrative tasks. Exceeding the threshold involves the obligation to apply profit tax from the next quarter.
The dividend tax increased from 8% to 10%, which affects the Micro and Mici SRL profit distributors.
In parallel, companies must make greater compliance efforts with fiscal obligations (E -factory, statements, ANAF controls), different local procedures and risks can affect administrative capacity.
A businessman from Cluj Sandu Băbășan tries to explain what these measures mean on the small companies in Romania.
He gives the example of a neighborhood pizzeria with 6 employees:
“He is 40 years old. Two souls grow up in his house – a 17 -girl, a boy of 15. The wife is no longer. He remained only and the life he is trying to stand up. He has an apartment in installments. He is not employed. He is Pizza. 7 years old. He has 6 employees. Fidel, who have learned that in that hot box it is more than food“, Writes the entrepreneur on Facebook.
“The entrepreneur feels immediately. Orders decrease. Costs increase”
And over him, as over all the Romanian entrepreneurs, August 2025 comes.
“In January when he made his plans on 2025, August was only a summer month, not an inflection in the business strategy (well, he knew from July. He had a month to adapt)”, Complete the entrepreneur.
The first effect of the increases manifests at the level of the employees: “Salaries do not reach. An employee comes and says: boss', my bills broke. Put, please, something over. He gives it. 400 lei more, net. But to give it 400, pays 680. × 6 employees = 4,080 extra lei per month. Per year? 48,960 lei. Not for performance. Not for extension. For survival.“
At the same time, a wave of increases follows: mozzarella is expensive; The VAT climbs from 9% to 11%; The gas comes with superficially; The current and the rent as well. A pizza that costs him 7.80 now costs 8.60 lei. 80 extra money, at each. Produces 2,000 pizza per month. × 0.80 = 1,600 lei more per month = 19,200 lei per year, only from raw materials and energy.
The little entrepreneur is forced to increase the price: “DIt is at 21.80 at 26.10 lei pizza. (Well, in Cluj from 60 lei to 90, that is Cluuj!) A jump of 4.30 lei. That is +19.6%. The same recipe. The same taste. Another story.“
But the clients' salary was not indexed by 19.6%. “He does not want to give almost 30 lei on a pizza. (90 in Bucharest and Cluj) So cut. He eats at home. The entrepreneur feels immediately. Orders decrease. Costs increase. And between 5,680 extra lei per month and sales in the minus … it is not difficult to choose who wins. In total, 68,160 lei in additional expenses per year. Without any guarantee that they will be covered. Without safety. Without safety net”, The entrepreneur continues.
“So, a pizzeria slowly disappears. No burnt. Not weak. Not lazy”
And now the question that does not appear in the balance sheet: “If the company has to produce at least 5,680 lei extra/month just not to die … how much does he have to earn, the father, the man, to live? An ~ 400 lei/month equivalent..
The story is this, concludes Băbășan: his company must bring 68,160 lei per year. He, as a father, needs another 60,540 lei, only to keep his safe. Total: 128,700 lei per year. “Not for dreams. For life. And look, a pizzeria slowly disappears. Not burnt. Not weak. Not lazy. But suffocated by costs, left behind by customers, and ignored by the big figures that never smell.”
In 2025, pizza is just the symbol, he says. “The story is about any small business, which does the same … but pays more and more for less and less. I will order from the neighborhood. I will buy locally, I will support the business of the little entrepreneurs, because they do not have an external financier to pass them over the hop. You?”concludes Sandu Băbășan.
