Several days ago, representatives of the independent media institutions were invited to the Tax Inspectorate. The state has taken the decision to retroactively tax the money sent to journalists by Google for advertising on web pages.

The Tax Inspectorates received a list from the central tax office, and each portal manager was invited to his sector. The outstanding taxes and penalties were calculated and each one went to the bank to pay more than 50 euros (several thousands of lei), depending on the figures entered on the list.

People should pay their taxes on time, and the money should reach the public budget to maintain public institutions, hospitals, schools, and libraries. The state, who manages this money, must be vigilant, but at the same time, it should create equal conditions for all. And the problem seems to be here.

The decision to retroactively charge the money transferred from Google to several portals in Chișinău brings some budget efficiency, but not too high. Initially, the newsrooms could not receive the money directly on the company account, but only on the private account of the editorial manager. Starting with 2018, the money can be transferred to the newsroom’s account, so next year the tax inspectorate will not have as many persons to tax retroactively.

Thus, the Moldovan authorities could decide to tax retroactively, following the same model, all the money received by the Moldovan citizens from abroad. There are dozens of reports claiming that thousands and thousands of families have been practically rescued from poverty, disease, and hunger due to remittances from abroad. 

And while these families, that are in an eternal transition, and their loved ones from Italy, France, Belgium or the U.S.A. see these remittances as a supplement to their budget, the state can see in any remittance an opportunity for new taxes and sources to the budget.

Probably, people will get back to the old way of sending the money via packages from the minibusses, or, they will stop sending money altogether. 

More and more people decide to migrate with the whole family, children or parents. And there are cases where migrant workers from Europe, the U.S., Canada, and Russia would send money home where relatives would build houses, buy apartments and other goods, but when they returned to their comfortable dwellings, they feel the difference. So they abandon everything and leave, together with their families, back to migration.

• Shall We Leave or Shall We Stay?

The Moldovans returning home feel suppressed here because of the injustice, of selective justice, selective taxation and selective attitude. 

So, in the case of several media institutions, the state decided to retroactively tax and penalize journalists for more than 50 euros (several thousand lei) arrived to their Google account.

Paradoxically, the large users of the so-called remittances seem to be untouched. This year, for example, Igor Dodon stated in a dialogue with Vlad Plahotniuc (filmed by themselves) that he spends between 41,000 euros and 51,500 euros (800,000 and 1 million lei) every month for the maintenance of his party, and he receives the money from abroad. 

Surely, such taxes and penalties would help to increase the budget. Moreover, for evasions and unpaid taxes that exceed 2500 conventional units monthly around 6,500 euros (125,000 lei), criminal liability intervenes, the lawyers say. 

And the evasion calculated out of around 51,500 euros (1 million lei) unofficial monthly expenses should result in a solid criminal case. Moreover, such a case would restore many people’s confidence in the justice system and motivate people to come back to Moldova or stop those who are leaving now. 

However, the new Prosecutor General has not been interested in this case yet, and the new Minister of Justice, Fadei Nagacevschi, previously a lawyer of the Socialist Party, is only interested in a small reform, not to annoy the socialist leader who paid him until recently. 

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Alina RADU, alina.radu@zdg.md