The bill providing for the cancellation of tax facilities for the businesses in the gambling area is meant to bring fiscal equity. The authors of the legislative initiative say so. According to them, this reform isn’t against the business climate, but in the support of fiscal conditions. On the other hand, the representatives of "Moldova Lottery National" and partner company maintain the activity they have been carrying out brings revenue to the state budget. The new provisions establish taxes for lotteries, which would impede their development. These opinions were presented at the meeting of the Economic Press Club on Friday.
MP Dumitru Alaiba, co-author of the legislative initiative, says that according to one of the new provisions, people who will win money at the lottery or sports betting will pay tax for the income exceeding 240 lei. In his opinion, the current exemption isn’t fair towards those who receive salaries, from which they pay taxes. However, those who were lucky enough to win the lottery are exempted from taxes.
The parliamentarian mentioned that another provision concerns the local tax. Those in the gambling field are currently exempted from it. According to Dumitru Alaiba, it’s not clear why a shop, a hairdresser has to pay the local tax and those in the gambling field don’t. The legislative initiative comes to eliminate this lack of balance in the Fiscal Code. The deputy also said that the new provisions would come into force upon the publication in the Monitorul Official Gazette.
Plamen Milanov, administrator of the partner company of "Moldova National Lottery”, said that in many countries the lottery winnings aren’t subject to taxation. He also mentions that it is unclear how the local tax will be applied. However, the lotto tickets are sold in different types of commercial units, which already pay local taxes, including in the offices of the "Moldova Post".
Vlad Hâncu, director of "Moldova National Lottery", said that 0.1% of each lottery ticket prize is currently being paid, which is a local tax. For this month around 300 thousand lei were paid, and since the launch of the bill this figure exceeded one million lei. "When we have a monopoly and we consider it necessary for this business to grow, to become more profitable and to bring more money to the budget, well, these limitations will destroy everything that has been done so far", Vlad Hâncu added.
According to the authors of the initiative, the mechanism for applying the local tax will be established by the local public authorities. Several experts, participants in the event, stated that the application of the local tax by the local public authorities can generate risks of corruption. For example, a mayor may impose a zero tax while another mayor a tax of ten thousand lei. In their opinion, there should be a cap. Also, experts believe that taxing the lottery winnings will undermine participants’ motivation. For example, if a person from the north of the country wins 250 lei, he or she needs to spend 200 lei to collect the win in Chisinau, and then will have to pay that tax and follow other formalities.
