Romanian Senate Cancels Car Tax, Stipulates Refunds In 90 Days

The legislative proposal amending Law no.571/2003, the Fiscal Code, with subsequent amendments, was adopted 45 to six votes and one abstention. Social democrats, conservatives and democrat liberals voted in favor of the proposal.

The Senate also adopted an amendment raised by the committee for economic matters, stipulating the Ministry of Economy and Finance is obliged to pay back the money collected as special taxes for cars within 90 days of the payer’s request.

Hence, within 30 days of when the law takes effect, the Ministry of Economy and Finance will draft and submit for the government’s approval methodological norms for the enforcement of the law.

The draft law’s initiators said in their motivation that the introduction of this special tax goes against the country’s European Union accession treaty. They also said the “level of the tax is very high and becomes an exaggerated fiscal burden for citizens buying cars”, and the introduction of the tax creates discriminating treatment among competitors on the Romanian automotive market.

Moreover, initiators added the elimination of the car tax would not entail major imbalances for the state budget. They said the financial impact of such a measure is low, as according to the 2008 budget draft, the government expects car tax revenue at RON600,800,000.

The Senate is the first chamber notified and the Chamber of Deputies will have the final say in the matter.