Overdue liabilities to the National Public Budget (NPB) remains to be an issue, which gets more and more serious with every year, stated Finance Minister Veaceslav Negruta at the meeting of the Ministry's Board. The debts owed to the NPB rose in 2010 by 93 million lei, amounting to 1.23 billion lei at the end of the year, Info-Prim Neo reports. The overdue debts owed to the state budget and administrated by the Tax Inspectorate stood at 291 million lei, up by 9.3% from 2009. At the same time, the Customs Service reduced the debt by 2.4 million lei. Only in 18 administrative units it was managed to slightly reduce the debts owed to the state budget and the district budgets, which at the end of last year stood at 448 million lei. However, in the remaining 17 units arrears rose significantly. For example, in Balti municipality and in Taraclia district the debts rose by over 70%, in Causeni by over 50%, in Ocnita by 45%, and in Edinet by 32%. The largest amount, of 212 million lei, is owed by Chisinau municipality. Chief Tax Inspector Nicolae Platon said that some of the debts were rescheduled, and others were subject to litigation, but overall the debt collection capacity was poor. The reasons include legislative deficiencies, the fragmentation of the tax service's information systems, and troubles related to fake firms. To counter tax avoidance and evasion through fake firms, the Tax Inspectorate has developed amendments to the Fiscal Code providing for harsher penalties on those who register such firms.