Is it fair that such an important amendment in tax law to be announced one week before it is passed? What is the state offering in return for this new tax? Why do small businesses always have to bear the burden? Why do you have to eat a small fish to become big fish? How much money the new poll tax will feed into the state budget? These are only few of the questions sent recently by Wall-Street readers.

“We are not replacing a volatile tax grid with a governable one”

So far, the minister of finance has come forward with a mere projection of the revenues expected to be fed into the state budget after the enforcement of the poll tax: 350 mln lei in 2008.

“The purpose of introducing the poll tax was not to replace a volatile tax grid with a governable one. Therefore, we aim at discouraging companies who don’t pay their tax liabilities. (…)For 2009, given that we are referring to the past seven months, the additional revenues top 350 mln lei”, said Gheorghe Pogea at a media briefing after the Government’s meeting on Saturday.

The government passed the Emergency Ordinance on 2009 budget revision and the regulation of various fiscal-financial measures on the introduction of a minimum tax starting May 1, 2009, of 2,200 lei annually.

All the amendments to the Fiscal Code passed on Saturday by the Government allow an increase in state revenues by 1.32 bln lei (315 mln euro) this year, of which 350 mln lei being fed by the new poll taxes, sources in the government said.

In default of these additional measures, this year’s state revenues projection would be revised downward by roughly 20 bln lei. The new measures, however allow a mere 18.8 bln lei decrease against the initial budget plan.

Adjustment of the budget by 1.1% of GDP

The minister of finance said the revision would adjust the budget by roughly 1.1% of GDP, which en