The draft law on the state tax was considered at public debates. Members of the initiative group for working out the bill said the goal of the new law is to diminish the number of cases pending in court and to make those who put off the examination of cases more responsible. Other participants in the discussions said the bill does nothing but introduces overtaxation and justice seekers will have to pay for access to justice, IPN reports.
Olesea Stamate, who heads the Parliament’s commission on appointments and immunities, said work on the bill lasted for about half a year and the working group involved representatives of all the legal professions. The goal was to update the outdated law. But when work to amend the law was started, they realized that a lot of amendments were needed and therefore decided to propose a new law.
Nina Cernat, a member of the Superior Council of Magistracy, said the objective of the new law on the state tax is to ease the burden of courts of law as the number of cases increases at a time when the number of judges remains the same. The draft law targets the ill-intentioned persons who are to pay postponement taxes, judge replacement taxes. There are cases that are not examined for 7-10 years due to one hundred postponements, many of which are unfounded. The parties involved in a trial should be more disciplined.
Lawyer Doina Ioana Străisteanu said the stamp tax is a very big financial burden and, even if the categories of persons who can be exempted from the state tax is stipulated, the exemption from the stamp tax is not allowed given that it is a newly introduced element. There is a discriminatory norm in the current draft law. “When the public servants or public institutions are exempted from the state tax or stamp tax in any contravention and administrative cases or in newly introduced cases and the citizens are not exempted, this is direct discrimination, according to the status. We must see if abuses do not appear here. I realize that they bank on mediation, but we see that the goal is to make money based on the conflicting nature of Moldovans who choose to go to court rather than to resort to mediation,” stated Doina Ioana Străisteanu.
Judge Livia Mitrofan said the stamp tax or duty tax represents overtaxation and can be perceived as a payment for justice. The justice seekers will get the impression that they will not be done justice is they do not pay this tax of 200 lei to the court. Justice is a costly public service, but it should be fully covered with state budget funds and all the taxes should be paid into the state budget not to courts of law.
Angela Popil, a member of the National Lawyers Union and a member of the working group, said the intention was not to overtax. “During five months, meeting after meeting, we had discussed, in parts heatedly. The intention was not to hamper access to justice by introducing a stamp tax. I agree that there are omissions in this bill, but I think we need to improve it by concerted efforts,” noted Angela Popil.
According to members of the working group, the stamp duty is one of the solutions for covering a part of the administrative costs that are covered now by courts, noting that last year the courts of law spent 8.5 million lei only on summoning parties to trials. But this money could have been used to purchase equipment and improve the conditions.
