The measures of the Bolojan Government, criticized by a former USR minister: “The impoverishment of the population is a political choice”
Claudiu Năsui. Photo: Inquam Photos / Octav Ganea
USR MP Claudiu Năsui, former Minister of the Economy, said on B1 TV on Tuesday that “the impoverishment and undermining of purchasing power were done with a political hand”, accusing the Bolojan Government of preferring to increase taxes instead of reducing state spending.
He said the tax increases were “not a fact of nature” but “were a political choice”.
“The impoverishment of the population, the fight against purchasing power, whatever you want to call it, is a political choice. The political class had to reduce the deficit last year. We will not go into reasons why, they had to do it, everyone agrees. The question is how to do it. They could do it by reducing their expenses or by increasing taxes, that is, by forcing the rest of the population to reduce expenses”, explained Claudiu Năsui.
The USR deputy recalled that in the last election campaigns “it was said very clearly” that taxes would not be increased.
“Unfortunately, here was a very big mistake by the Bolojan Government, a mistake that he will not pay for, he says in vain that it is a sacrifice, there is no such sacrifice, the sacrifice belongs to the population, a mistake to raise taxes, because after increasing them not only did it torment the population, not only did it decrease purchasing power, not only did it impoverish an electorate and some people who voted anyway, 40%, AUR, so basically they brought things politically to a more extreme area, but also left the state not to reform,” he continued.
What he said to those who say property taxes were 'low'
The USR deputy reproached the Government for justifying the increase in property taxes by the level at which they were, but not reducing labor taxation for the same reason.
“Indeed, the taxes on property are lower, but the ones on work, what can you see, they are higher – and not just higher, they are the highest in the European Union, which is not known for low taxes. So let's reduce those! (…) And pay attention, the taxes on work are also increasing since the middle of the year, because there was a tax facility for 300 lei on the minimum wage which becomes 200 lei, so taxes on work are also increasing. And all this was a political choice, and this is sad, because it basically means that Romania made it with its own hand. The impoverishment and the undermining of the purchasing power were made with a political hand”, concluded Claudiu Năsui.
