Top Talk / Fiscal Amnesty a financial balloon that carries these huge risks. Economic expert Zef Preçi speaks

Amnesty is an issue that has been debated and could take legal force, an initiative to formalize informal money in the hands of Albanians.

“In poor countries where the accounting system is weak and the economy is dominated by the informal sector to a considerable extent and the credibility of institutions is weak, it is understood that such measures are consistently with their pros and cons. Our country has been forgiving interest on delays, fines for unpaid insurance, public utilities such as water, energy, etc. for years. or outstanding liabilities. The success of such a measure requires three preconditions, broad public consensus with that public part that regularly pays taxes, our country has 30 50% informal economy which means that 50 to 70% of businesses pay taxes regularly. Tax evasion is a crime and political guarantees are required. Another guarantee is required which is consensus with international institutions as is the case of the IMF, it is very important that the measures taken are coordinated with it. Fiscal evasion is encouraged that the perception is created that I do not pay taxes that they will be forgiven for a year and we will be richer in hiding than paying them. In countries that have a large weight of the criminal economy such as processing, exporting drugs, which unfortunately we are at this stage. The line between formal, informal and criminal money is very blurred. “In these circumstances, there is no way for the IMF to agree.” said the expert.

He said that the discussion of fiscal amnesty makes him pessimistic as he believes that there will be no international or political consensus and there will be no understanding from the part of the society that pays taxes regularly.

“I find it impossible to achieve, even the drafting of this draft, without saying who are the social groups or business groups, without saying even a single experience of an immigrant. I do not see cooperation with this part of the economy as a solution, the signal of discussion has allowed more stamps, more construction permits in the form of co-shareholders or other forms through notaries, I see the system in real aggression of criminal money. I see the police or institutions in a position of discouragement. This makes me pessimistic that even that there will be no international or political consensus, and that there will be no understanding from the part of society that regularly pays taxes, I see it as an added risk to the performance of the tax administration. An unsuitable angle has been found, we are doing amnesty every day, it is good to learn lessons, after all this is capitalism, it is better to take care of the poor than to hide them from those taxes as well. “All the analyzes of similar countries or those that have tried to take steps in this direction, show that taking these steps that make the country a tax haven is nothing more than a concession to criminal groups.”said Preçi.

top channel