"I have always thought that we must begin with the extirpation of the great evasion. At the beginning of my term as Minister, I was advised very paternally by several benevolent people to not try to do this because those who have tried to do that have ended really bad. I should sit quietly, I was told, and just do the little things since it was an election year (it was 2014)! I have not obeyed them , "writes former Finance Minister Ioana Petrescu on his blog.
"The Panama Papers, a journalistic investigation of proportions reveals that while the common man pays taxes, strong people with money think that the rules are not made for them. They use companies registered in tax havens, to avoid paying taxes, to make tax evasion and launder money, all this while they are leading countries and ask for money from the population for pensions and salaries. Others pretend to support the business environment and ask bluntly that the state collect more money to the state budget, "the former minister wrote.
I could write a book about how hard it was for Romania to be part of this agreement. I have received the Government endorsement to sign this treaty minutes before the signing ceremony. At the last government meeting which I attended as finance minister, one of the ministers postponed signing the ordinance that created the legal framework for Treaty’s enforcement.
A week later, once he occupied the chair of Minister of finance, he removed the provision on the exchange of financial information between banks and ANAF from the draft ordinance.
On the other hand, the business environment vehemently opposed the provision in the Fiscal Procedure Code that regulated the collection of financial data and the media accused that by the exchange of tax and financial information, the taxation of the diaspora was intended. ''