EconMin Nasui: Romanians wanting higher pay for their work not asking for privilege

Romanians who want higher pay for their work do not ask for any privilege, but only not to take half of their salary to pay all kinds of privileges for the politically connected, says Economy Minister Claudiu Nasui. "When it comes to leaving money to working Romanians, it is a budgetary problem. But when it comes to giving 50 billion lei to programmes that have always gone to local barons and party companies, is it no longer a matter of budget or deficit? Romania isn't poor, it's impoverished. Doesn't Pandora's box open when we set up new state agencies, new state banks, thousands of new public jobs, ridiculous bonuses and, of course, new special pensioners? Romanians who want higher pay for their work do not demand any privilege from their work. They demand normality, not to take half of their salary to pay all kinds of privileges for those who are politically connected," Nasui said Tuesday in a statement to AGERPRES. He made these clarifications after the Finance Minister Dan Vilceanu said that exempting the minimum pay from taxation, even for certain categories of taxpayers, is a difficult measure to apply at this moment, because once there is a category of taxpayers who do not pay taxes others will want to benefit from the same scheme. He thus answered to a question regarding a proposal of Nasui on exempting minimum wage from taxation. In late July, Nasui pointed out that exempting minimum wage from taxation could be a solution for keeping the workforce in the country, and such measure could start on January 1, 2022 in a private sector, which could be the hospitality industry. AGERPRES (RO - author: Mariana Nica, editor: Oana Tilica; EN - author: Corneliu-Aurelian Colceriu, editor: Adina Panaitescu)