Businesses complain that the real tax burden in Albania is twice higher than what has been officially reported by the government.
The President of the American Chamber of Commerce, Mark Crawford, said that dozens of taxes and fees that are added year after year have turned the fiscal burden unbearable.
“If it’s 15% on paper, it doesn’t seem higher than the rest of the world. But there are 30 other smaller taxes and fees which make the fiscal burden 30% or 40% of the profit or personal income”, Crawford says.
According to him, high taxes have been the main obstacle for doing business in Albania. He says that fiscal policies are often chaotic as well.
“It is impossible for a company to build a 5-star hotel, with taxes removed from this side of the border, but then a new tax is imposed on the tourists who arrive from Kosovo”, said the President of the American Chamber of Commerce.
High taxes are not the only problem. Crawford says that different from the other countries of the region, Albania has an unstable fiscal policy.
“If they keep changing the fiscal package each year, increasing fees every year, it is difficult for a foreign company to make plans. They have foreign shareholders with their own expectancies”, Crawford says.
According to the Chairman of the US Chamber of Commerce, the unclear climate and high taxes have discouraged many foreign investors to come to Albania.
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