The 43% cut in the tax on imports of luxury cars has been ruled unconstitutional. The Constitutional Court upheld the argument of the appellants, the Liberal lawmakers, that this amendment to the budget and tax policy had bypassed the Government's approval stage, IPN reports.

Liberal MP Valeriu Munteanu said that the amendment's passage violated Article 131 of the Constitution, which states that any legislative proposal or amendment involving either an increment or reduction of tax revenues or budget spending must get the Government's approval first.

The tax cut regarded diesel-powered cars with an engine capacity over 2,500cc and gasoline-powered cars with a capacity over 3,000cc. At the same time, taxes on cheaper cars rose by 4-6 eurocents. Effective from 1 January 2014, the new taxes on car imports were supposed to produce revenues of 40 million lei this year. Last year, car imports brought about 200 million lei in taxes.