Common tax may be introduced in agriculture in 2013

A common tax that will include all the taxes, except the VAT, the mandatory state social insurance contributions and the mandatory health insurance premiums may be introduced in the agricultural sector in 2013, Info-Prim Neo reports. Under a bill proposed by the Ministry of Finance, the common tax will include the income tax, land tax and real estate tax (except the tax on farmland), and the water tax and management tax that are now paid separately by the agricultural producers. Alexandru Slusari, chairman of the National Union of Agricultural Producers’ Associations “Uniagroprotect”, said a common tax in agriculture would put the farmers in the same conditions and would contribute to a reduction in the number of cases of tax evasion and of companies working in the underground economy. ”The income tax is now calculated based on the volume of supplied and sold products. Many farmers do not declare the whole production output and there are many cases of tax evasion, while some of the companies perform illegal transactions and sell the products at prices lower than the cost price, creating thus disloyal competition. The common tax will be determined according to the area of farmland owned by the producer,” said Alexandru Slusari. It was suggesting fixing the common tax at 3 lei per grade-hectare, i. e. about 200 lei per hectare of farmland.