Middle class is still late to emerge

The middle class is difficult to appear in Moldova, Info-Prim Neo reports, quoting data of the State Principle Fiscal Inspectorate (SPFI.) According to the SPFI, the maximum amount of (taxable) income, gained by a natural person in 2004 was 7.5 million lei, in 2005 – 10.3 million, in 2006 – 8.5 million lei. On the other hand, considering those 64,019 income declarations submitted for 2006, 62,423 signatories, natural entities, informed they received incomes of up to 100,000 lei, the threshold believed by local experts to mark that a person belongs to the so-called middle class. 1,336 people showed incomes between 100,000 and 250,000 lei, 182 – between 250,000 and 500,000 lei, 44 people – between 500,000 and 1 million lei and 34 people gained more than 1 million lei. The SPFI mentions this data are based on the information presented by companies as to the salaries paid to natural entities, as well as the amount of taxes levied from those incomes. Thus, the wage-incomes in 2005 were 10.5 billion lei, while in 2006 – 13.3 billion. All in all, the SPFI now keeps the records of about 600,000 natural entities, to whom the companies pay salaries from which taxes are levied. More than a half of them have monthly incomes of less than 1,000 lei, according to the tax grids. The average monthly salary of a Moldovan employee was 2,063 lei in 2007, by 21.5% more than in 2006. In the private sector, the salary was 2,229 lei, in the budget sector – 1,625 lei. The Government promised to raise the average salary by USD300 by 2009. In addition to wages, some Moldovans get revenues from rent, royalties, and capital growths. The latter ones are not so significant, though in 2006, the capital-growth incomes rose by 25.5 mln lei, compared to 2005.