Fiscal strike in Romania

03/09/2010

Those affected mount a protest against new requirements and paperwork.

By Paul Ciocoiu for Southeast European Times in Bucharest -- 03/09/10

Huge queues form at state financial offices in response to a new fiscal amendment. [Victor Barbu/SETimes]

Journalists, singers, composers and many others who own copyrights are up in arms over an amendment to the Fiscal Code. It stipulates that, as of July, those who earn income from copyrights also have to make monthly social and health contributions, on top of the income tax they already pay.

The impact, critics say, is even greater because of the short deadline imposed by the government. Many affected taxpayers have had to visit multiple agencies in order to complete the necesssary paperwork.

"For two days, I have been trying to be an honest taxpayer. I must confess, exhausted as I am now, that I can't be one," Cristian Ghinea, a political analyst, starts his letter of protest and his call for a fiscal strike.

"I am an author who wants to pay taxes to the state. But asking us to go to three different institutions every month seems to me an exercise in mass humiliation," he said.

Ghinea also set up an online petition. More than 5,000 people added their names to the virtual note of protest addressed to Prime Minister Emil Boc.

His appeal struck a chord. More than 100 writers and artists warned in a public letter they would participate in the fiscal strike as of September. Amid this wave of discontent, the government promised it would set up a virtual pay desk where copyright holders can submit the monthly statements.

Bloggers spread the call. "Never, over the last 20 years, have I felt worse in my country than now. Never have I felt more humiliated, trodden on, more defied by the government," Simona Tache, a journalist, said on her blog.

"As I write this post, I should probably be at the Pensions House or the Health Insurance House or at the Unemployment Agency, crushed under the heels of thousands of [other] owners of copyrights who, in their turn, tread on the state servants, forced to apply an ordinance that even those who passed it don't understand," she added.

The SmartWoman blog reviewed readers' opinions on the fiscal strike proposal. "I protest against any form of abuse. We have the right to be respected ... we have the right to work and not waste a day per month (standing in line to submit the statements). But if we're all talk, then we will deserve our fate. We must act!" is the common call voiced by Laura, one of the blog's visitors.

Sargon, another visitor, is even more categorical. "I for one will protest against the social insurance obligation. Every man must be free to decide whether or not he buys health, unemployment and pension services from the state," he argues.

Some bloggers, however, don't see the campaign as fruitful. "The fiscal strike proposed recently is a utopia," writes Dragos Manac. "First of all, it is an obvious illegality. Secondly, it implies solidarity. Thirdly, it has never really worked anywhere."

Others, like Orator, condemn the protesters' move. "We appreciate the artists' effort but condemn the fact they don't want to pay taxes just like any other citizen," he says.

After all, he concludes, "don't we all have the same obligations in this country?"