Basha: Taxes are not transparent
02/05/2011 23:45
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After campaigning for three weeks without the presence of the media, the
Democratic Party candidate for Mayor of Tirana, Lulzim Basha, met with a
group of journalists, an idea given by “The Initiative for Tirana”.
The essence of Basha’s electoral program is, as he called it, a fiscal reform. Basha promises to remove 60 of 85 different local taxes and to reduce the other necessary fees at only 100 ALL.
Although the municipality has replied to this declaration, by saying that the taxes of the municipality are much lower than the central government taxes, Basha says that the actual tax system of the Tirana Municipality is not transparent.
“Although the taxes are regularly collected, the Municipality Financial Conditions remain so poor that the Municipality cannot take even 1 euro in loans. All municipality fees today are not transparent, it multiples the cost of the service that the fee represents. I will give you an example. The tax of city cleaning is five times bigger than 2 years ago. Is the city cleaner? Absolutely not! This can be achieved with a less costing service, like the town of Lezha… I’m not saying London, but our Lezha, that has divided rubbish bins for plastic materials, glass and combustible, all of this to generate the market interest. Lowering taxes for small business will generate, according to the calculations, 1.2 billion ALL for the small business, only in six months. And this will open 4000 jobs in the first six months”, Basha said.
Basha added that only the tax reduction does not solve the budget problem. The Democratic Party candidate talked on bigger solutions: partnership with the private business and loans for the municipality from the banks and the government.
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“The Mayor, instead of asking consensus for the budget, has acted with monthly budgets that are acknowledged to the municipality by law. The essence of my activity will be consensus”, Basha said.
Basha also promised to compensate the Sauk residents, where the New Road Ring will pass, with the real value of their lands.
As for the electoral videos pre-edited by the political parties, after refusing to accept TV cameras in his electoral meetings, Basha replied:
“It is a practice that you were using before I came, but in the meetings with the citizens, I have tried to keep their privacy”, Basha said.
As for the accusations of the opposition for the suspicious financial transactions in Netherlands, Basha said that he has declared his wealth at the competent institutions.
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