High corruption risks linger in tax system

The risks related to corruption in the tax system remain high, despite the anti-corruption activities provided for by the Country Threshold Program (CTP), Info-Prim Neo reports. It's among the conclusions of the monitoring report on the implementation of the CTP, launched by the NGOs from the Anti-Corruption Alliance. It the last report contains the results of the monitoring sessions carried out in quarter 4 of 2008. From those 8 activities projected in the tax sector, but two were accomplished, one runs according to the schedule, as five are lagging behind. The largest delays are recorded in creating and implementing the E-Statements automatized system and the mechanism of e-reporting over the Internet. Creating the institute of fiscal mediation is delayed. The reasons for these delays are both objective and subjective, the report shows. The software developing partners' delay can be viewed as a sample of objective delay, the often changes of the leadership of the tax inspectorate, while adopting the law on fiscal mediation mainly depends on the Parliament. According to Lilia Carasciuc, the executive director of Transparency International Moldova, opinion polls show that the citizens do not feel that much has changed in terms of corruption in this system. Although the level of bribes offered to tax inspectors decreased from 16,000 lei in 2007 to 12,000 lei in 2008, it is still too high. The bribe compared to the average salary in the sector has dropped from 45 to 40%, but it is still attractive. At the same time the possibility to be caught red-haded is small (0.3% in 2007 and 0.2% in 2008) and this encourages tax inspectors to break the law, Lilia Carasciuc says.