TIRANA, Aug. 13 – Albania’s opposition leader, Lulzim Basha, said this week the country has reached an alarming new low in economic terms, blaming the government and its tax policies for mismanagement of the economy and lack of public investment.
Basha rebuked the Socialist-led government of Prime Minister Edi Rama of missing revenue targets by $134 million in taxes and customs, adding $50 million in losses came from cigarette smuggling alone.
“Edi Rama and the government stay silent, because they are mired in corrupt affairs. The situation looks alarming and hopeless. There is [nothing] … to stop the country from sliding into economic recession,” Basha said at a Wednesday press conference.
He said that despite optimistic public statements, the government itself has acknowledged the dire situation when it reviewed in this year’s budget downwards, forcing cuts in investments.
Basha said the opposition is preparing an alternative economic platform to present to voters in two years time, starting with the return to a low flat tax.
The Democrats have promised a 9 percent flat tax rate, the lowest in the region. The Socialists increased taxes to 15 percent from 10 percent and introduced progressive taxation, but the results so far have not been very positive, economic experts say.
“Our platform is based on a transparent economy instead of smuggling and monopolies — on the lowest tax in the Balkans, departure from the record price of oil and reduction of energy prices,” Basha said.
The Socialist-led government has warned of the launch of a drive to stop tax evasion, vowing arrests and prison sentences starting in September.
Basha said the drive would hit small entrepreneurs who are already on the verge of bankruptcy and not the real big tax evaders and smugglers, who Basha said “are protected by the government.”
