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"These are utopian policies!"/ Ola Xama debates with Qori about taxes: How can you fight informality by increasing taxes?!
2025-03-28 14:57:22 / POLITIKË
Journalist Ola Xama and the chairman of the Lëvizja Bashkë, Arlind Qori, debated on the show "Të Paekspozuarit" on MCN TV, regarding this party's program on taxes.
Ola Xama : Your program had a good scan of the situation of the Albanian economy. I liked the part about how the program gave ideas that are solved through good governance standards, the elimination of monopolies. However, as for the part of the solutions it gives in the field of public spending, such as the very expensive bill of 1 billion euros for pension increases. It is a good thing but unaffordable. This is done gradually, it cannot be done immediately, because either the debt will increase or you will cut half of the administration. They were utopian.
I was impressed by taxation, the extension and deepening of progressivity and the reduction of informality are proposed. Through the bill to reduce informality, you will increase pensions. These do not go to Albania. As soon as you introduce a progressive tax, informality increases.
The tax rate proposed by you, for high salaries, if your salary is 4000 euros, you are taxed at 25%. If your salary is 4001 euros, you are taxed at 35%.
So there will be under-declarations. Progressive taxation is done in economies that have many favors, but it is not the model of the Albanian economy. Salaries are taxed, there are also social security.
If you make the tax 25% for salaries over 2 thousand euros, if we also calculate the social security levels, it goes to 45%. This level is in countries like France, Canada, the USA, but they also have 37%. So to work and leave half to the state. This seems utopian. With progressivity to fight abnormality?
Arlind Qori : The lowest level of informality is 40%. If we halve informality and we do as Serbia does, it turns out that if it is halved and those who formalize are only on minimum wage, the budget would receive 530 million euros. So, just by halving informality we would recover that much. If you add the growth of the economy, wages, and so on, there would be higher income.
We have very high costs of corruption and abuses. The KLSH report revealed over 1 billion euros of non-realization. There is room for full social policies. We want to transform agriculture and the productive economy. If we take the economic model unchanged, you are right. But we want to develop the economy.
Ola Xama : How will the 530 million euro bill be associated with the increase in taxes? If you tell him to formalize it, he will ask for assistance to keep it from the budget. Not only will he not take the money, but he will give it to him. It is not so theoretical. Then the corruption tax, I agree with you.
Arlind Qori : Informality is not only defined by the self-employed who have opened a small business. There is under-declaration of wages in every sector.
Ola Xama: Because of the progressive tax...
Arlind Qori: We cannot take for granted an administration with patronage. We want honest and efficient administration. We cannot take for granted that everything will remain the same and only the level of taxation will change. That is why we have divided it into four pillars, it is complete.
Ola Xama: I have seen actions of informality, the wildest in 2015, a customs administration with a big sword, scary laws were made where barbers were put in prison for not having a tax coupon or high fines, and still it was not formalized.
Arlind Qori : Formalization alone is not enough without promoting production. They must be done in parallel.
Ola Xama : You have to be in the process of developing the industry, eliminating monopolies, new ideas, then you can do it.
Arlind Qori: Along with this, we can't tell the people to wait 20 years.
Ola Xama : No, no, it won't happen. Social assistance will increase then.
Arlind Qori : There are endless discussions about this. The version that we will put flesh on once for 20 years and then we will build a just society, we have tried it. Enver Hoxha said sacrifice brothers and sisters...
Ola Xama: If a citizen feels the effects of growth, he pays taxes. There is no need for informality actions.
Arlind Qori: In our program we bring an example from Turkey where the government subsidizes small businesses, they become healthy and then move towards formalization. On the other hand, we need not only economic growth but also fair social policies.
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