Representatives of the Liberal Democratic Party (PLDM) express their indignation at the fact that the towns-municipalities will benefit from 35% of the income tax paid by private individuals following the adoption of the 2018 budgetary-fiscal policy and the amendment of the Law on Public Finances, while the share for towns that are not municipalities remained at the level of 20%. According to the Lib-Dems, such an approach on the part of the government and the parliamentary majority is discriminatory, IPN reports.
Liberal-Democratic MP Iurie Tap told a news conference that the Law on Administrative Decentralization clearly specifies the decentralization principles and stipulates that the local public authorities should enjoy equal opportunities and conditions. In the same connection, it is mentioned the principle of responsibility of the local public authorities that should ensure the implementation of public services in accordance with the standards adopted by law.
The MP gave as example Causeni town, which has a population of over 15,000 people. This will benefit from only 20% of the income tax paid by private individuals. At the same time, the town-municipality Hancesti, which has over 12,000 inhabitants, will keep 35% of this tax. “Could the mayor of Causeni ensure the same services and quality standards as Hancesti? Surely not. This is a discriminatory approach,” he stated.
Iurie Tap noted that the government aims to facilitate the work of the mayors of the Democratic Party. This change in the next parliamentary elections will favor the PDM’s candidates in these constituencies. “On the one hand, this will seriously affect the development of local communities. On the other hand, this will be an instrument for indirectly rigging the elections and the principle of democracy in the Republic of Moldova will be affected,” he stated.
The municipalities of Moldova are Chisinau, Balti, Comrat, Bender and Tiraspol, while from November 2016 also Cahul, Edinet, Hancesti, Orhei, Soroca, Ungheni, Straseni, and Ceadir-Lunga.
