Only two weeks before the May 8 local elections, the Parliament passed Thursday a pardon of many fiscal obligations for individuals and businesses (top public officials and politicians excluded), but only with the votes of the governing Democratic Party-led coalition. The opposition declined to vote calling it an electoral bazaar.
TIRANA TIMES
TIRANA, April 21 – The parliament passed Thursday the law on legalizing the capital and pardoning part of the custom and taxation debts that is expected to be a profit to thousands of Albanian families and small businesses, a move made right two weeks ahead of the May 8 local elections.
The opposition declined to vote on the law and boycotted that process.
The law was passed with 74 votes in favor and 58 abstentions as the opposition boycotted it.
The governing Democratic Party had two options for the parliament’s session taking into consideration that the opposition had said beforehand they were not in favor of the fiscal amnesty, which would ask for two-thirds, or 84 votes. The Democrats cannot reach that figure without the opposition support.
So the Democrats and their governing allies passed a partial amnesty.
All Albanians who have not paid the power and water before 2010 will be granted an amnesty on that. People may also pay three percent of an amount of money or one percent of a property they have not declared and thus make it clear. Businesses will also be let to pay only small amounts and get rid of their debts and obligations.
Prime Minister Sali Berisha called on the opposition to be part of the amnesty. “Leave politics aside, be social, think of those debts, of those people in need whom you let with poor payments and social assistance,” he said.
Berisha accused the opposition leader, Socialist Party head Edi Rama of ordering his lawmakers not to vote the draft law because that would violate their close interests.”
The opposition considered that move as an electoral bazaar and did not take part at the voting process.
They did not take part at the debate before the laws was passed.
Socialist lawmaker Mimi Kodheli said that they were not against a fiscal amnesty but not committed or held at this way and at such a time which has clear electoral goals.
“The Albanian opposition fully supports a fiscal amnesty. But when speaking of that process we did not take into consideration these two draft laws brought from the government a few days before. The opposition wants a real amnesty and not a populist one. The purpose of the draft law is the electoral profit and that is unfair,” she said.
She also said that draft law was also opposed from the business companies themselves as running against their interests. “You accuse the opposition of being against the fiscal amnesty. That is a governmental bazaar. You do not want the amnesty but manipulation. You are looking for an electoral bazaar,” said Kodheli.
All top officials are excluded from that pardon, in an effort to avoid clearing dirty money in the country.
“We do not give an amnesty to the money coming from crime and drugs. They cannot get an amnesty,” said the premier.
The amnesty law will for a few days be a topic of debate with the government showing its will to help the people and businesses and blaming the opposition of being against it, and, on the other hand, the opposition blaming the government of a bazaar for the local elections.
