The tax reform announced by the Government led by Ilie Bolojan started with a wave of discontent among the population. Although the prime minister has warned since last summer that local taxes will increase by 70-80% on average, many Romanians say that this year's increases have far exceeded this threshold.
Many people are unhappy and say they have nowhere to pay. PHOTO: Shutterstock
The worst affected seem to be people who own hybrid cars, who have lost the tax benefits they enjoyed in the past. If until now the tax reduction reached 95%, it was reduced to a maximum of 30%, which led to spectacular increases in payment amounts.
Taxes on hybrid cars have exploded because the new calculation formula is based on the displacement of the engine, without taking into account the actual level of emissions or the technology used. While many hybrid models have 2.0–2.5 liter engines, old, polluting cars often have small 1.2–1.4 liter engines that are taxed much more gently. In addition, the tax break for hybrids was drastically reduced from 95% to a maximum of 30%, resulting in over 20-fold increases in payment amounts.
“Even if the taxes were not increased for so many years, and not because of us, now they did everything at once, because here it disturbs the population, everything at once. They also took out what was a discount and added new taxes. That's why the amounts seem fantastically high to us to be able to pay them, possibly until the end of March, so that we can benefit from the 10% discount”. says a man standing in line at the Local Budget Revenue Department in Sector 2, according to the Cotidianul publication.
Complaints also come from people with disabilities, who in some cases lost the total exemption from paying the house tax. “Until now I haven't paid any tax because I'm disabled. I'm sorry because I feel it's not fair.” says a woman who recently paid her taxes.
Taxes have increased more than the Government promised
Analysts explain that, in addition to the actual increase in quotas, several facilities and discounts were eliminated, and local authorities were free to apply the maximum level provided by law.
“In many localities, local councilors and mayors voted with their eyes closed, with incredible cynicism, the maximum increase in taxes, ignoring the financial situation of people, their power to pay, especially pensioners who have old cars, more than 15-20 years old”, economic analyst Adrian Negrescu told Cotidianul, who also accuses a serious lack of communication on the part of the authorities.
Taxes and more than 20 times higher for hybrid cars
The most outrageous cases are those of hybrid car owners. A driver who in 2024 paid a tax of only 7 lei for a hybrid car of 1,800 cc received this year a tax decision of 199 lei, i.e. 22 times more. For hybrids under 1,500 cc, the tax reaches 130 lei, and for those over 3,000 cc, it exceeds 2,000 lei.
Paradoxically, in some situations, a new hybrid car ends up paying a higher tax than a 20-year-old car with Euro 3 or even Euro 0 pollution standards. For example, a 2,500 cc hybrid model has a tax of almost 990 lei, while a 1,600 cc Euro 4 car pays only 130 lei.
Profit.ro journalist Gabriel Dogaru points out that the new calculation formula, strictly based on cylinder capacity, disadvantages precisely those who chose newer and less polluting technologies.
“A 2.5 liter hybrid engine can have lower emissions than an old 1.6 liter engine. The displacement is a bit deceiving, who doesn't know why this happened, it looks like an opulent engine, 'Oh it has a 2.5 liter engine, it has to pay!' In fact, this engine technologically manages to consume less and produce less carbon emissions. These are the cars that will pay some substantial sums.” he explains.
Experts: the “polluter pays” principle is wrongly applied
The general secretary of ACAROM, Adrian Sandu, says that the real differences should be made between plug-in hybrids, with very low emissions, and mild-hybrid or full-hybrid ones, which on the highway pollute almost as much as a thermal engine. In the current grid, however, cars with very different pollution standards end up being taxed almost identically.
Although the Government's stated goal is to discourage the use of old and polluting cars, experts warn that, in its current form, the system risks penalizing precisely those who invest in new and more expensive vehicles.
