TIRANA, Sept. 7 – The Albanian government has proposed changes to the Criminal Code, removing fines on smuggling and fiscal evasion and replacing them with imprisonment of up to ten years for imports, exports and transit of illegal goods.
The changes, which have been proposed under a draft law approved by government and require a qualified majority of 84 votes in the 140-seat parliament, come at a time when the Socialist Party-led coalition has launched a nationwide campaign against economic informality.
“The goal of this draft law is tightening measures against serious criminal measures such as smuggling and informality,” says the government in the report of the draft law.
Under the current Criminal Code, smuggling of excise goods is punishable by fines or imprisonment of up to seven years but if the new amendments are approved perpetrators risk no fines — only up to seven years in prison.
The new amendments are harsher about illegal activity and tax evasion.
“Carrying out illegal commercial activity or conducting commercial activity not registered with tax authorities, failure to declare employees and issue fiscal receipt is a criminal offense and is punishable by up to three years in prison,” says the new article 180/a proposed as an amendment to the code.
A new amendment also foresees imprisonment of up to five years for the production and sale of fuel not meeting legal quality standards.
The tax administration will also have to be careful as failure to collect taxes within the legal deadlines is made punishable by up to seven years in prison for tax officials.
Speaking on Wednesday, Prime Minister Edi Rama said the new legal package against informality will punish with imprisonment abusive tax inspectors and business owners whom he described as slave-owners.
“Tax inspectors will be punished with prison not when they are caught red-handed getting bribes, but when the area they cover is found contaminated by tax evasion,” he said.
The prime minister described business owners who have uninsured workers as slave-owners several times in his remarks. “There will be prison for slave-owners,” he warned.
Prime Minister Edi Rama had earlier warned that new legal measures will be adopted to tighten penalties against informality.
“It will be a complex operation. The Parliament will examine at the beginning of its new session a package of tougher criminal penalties against tax evasion, smuggling and the slavery of informal labor,” Prime Minister Rama said.
He added, “The government is determined to go through the new battle in the customs and tax administrations. It is an unstoppable operation until the rule of law is set in Albania’s economy.”
Former Finance Minister Ridvan Bode, an opposition Democratic Party MP says the nationwide campaign although temporarily bringing more revenue to the state budget, will have negative impacts in the mid and long-term.
“The campaign could bring extra revenues in the short term, but they will be endangered because of their instability in the mid and long-term. I think it will also have a negative impact on businesses and consumers with higher prices,” said Bode.
