The prime minister rejects the idea of progressive taxation, invoked by the governor of the BNR and the PSD. The arguments of the head of the Government
Financial documents. An entrepreneur calculates taxes, VAT, loans, debts, savings or wages. PHOTO SOURCE: © Tero Vesalainen | Dreamstime.com
Invited to Digi24 to comment on the possibility of introducing progressive taxation of the incomes of natural persons, Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan said that the project “is not up-to-date”, citing the capacity of the public finance system to manage the change in the taxation system.
“Changing taxation systems cannot be done from one day to another. There must be the ability of finance to put into practice any kind of taxation change policy”, was the first argument invoked by Ilie Bolojan.
Secondly, he said that ANAF now has other priorities, generated by Romania's difficult budgetary situation.
“I believe that in the current situation, when in any case we have a complicated situation from a budgetary point of view, and the Finances are focusing on combating tax evasion and digitization, such a project is not up-to-date”, added Ilie Bolojan.
Recently, the governor of the National Bank, Mugur Isărescu, mentioned that Romania has an agreement with the IMF that recommended the introduction of progressive taxation.
The highest personal income taxes in Europe in 2026
Progressive taxation, requested by PSD
At the time of the establishment of the current governing coalition, the PSD supported, as an alternative to increasing the VAT level, the introduction of progressive taxation, but this was not included in the government program.
Even so, the president Sorin Grindeanu was convinced that, in the end, Romania will replace the single tax rate with the progressive tax.
“That's where it will end, I understand this. No one can say that Germany is economically backward. Or France, or Italy, or Spain, or Portugal, or some 24 states in the European Union, that only 3 are left without. All developed states have this progressive tax, which takes from those who earn more, but I don't want to be misunderstood, and it comes with a very good system of deductions, on health, on the education system for children, on issues of this type. So you can deduct certain expenses that you have, a person who earns a lot of income. This is something that applies everywhere in the world, with a few exceptions, including us”, declared Grindeanu, on July 14, 2025, on Romania TV.
More recently, progressive taxation was brought back into discussion by the Minister of Labour, Florin Manole (PSD). “This is the only solution for any civilized country in the European Union. The only solution is progressive taxation,” said Manole on January 18, on Digi 24.
According to the Minister of Labor, this is the solution “to not put equal pressure on those with low incomes and those with high incomes”.
“Progressive taxation has behind it reports from the European Commission, the World Bank and analyzes that show how much money we could collect in addition. It is extremely important,” he said.
