The halving of the minimum tax on turnover (IMCA) in 2026 and its elimination, along with the specific tax on turnover (ICAS) and the tax on special constructions (pole tax) from next year, shows the government wants to give the business environment hope, according to an opinion piece by Ruxandra Târlescu, Partner, Tax and Legal Services Leader at PwC Romania.

These measures, though provided by the ordinance, represent promises for now and their modification during 2026 cannot be excluded. However, we observe that the government understands that increased taxation is burdensome, slows investments and, implicitly, economic growth. Its intention is supported by the recent statement from IMF representatives that the measures already taken are sufficient for fiscal consolidation and that from now on, only the direction needs to be maintained.

However, reducing the budget deficit is not an easy mission and, without tax increases, the government has two other levers available: rationalising expenditures and improving tax collection. Over the last decade, fiscal revenues from taxes, duties and social security contributions have been around 25-27% of GDP. During this period, both tax cuts and increases were experimented with.

To reach fiscal revenues of over 30% of GDP, strengthening the fiscal administration is needed first, namely better tax collection. For example, the budget execution for 11 months of 2025, published by the Ministry of Finance, shows that fiscal revenues were 25.6% of GDP at the end of November 2025 compared to 25% of GDP in the similar period of the previous year. The 2025 tax increases brought an additional up to 0.6% of GDP.

Given that the deficit should decrease in 2026 by another 2 percentage points of GDP and that the trend must continue gradually until a deficit of 3% of GDP in 2030, it is evident that additional measures must be taken for much more rigorous control of public expenditures and more efficient collection of existing taxes. For this purpose, the business environment has supported in all discussions with the government that there is much room for improving ANAF's activity through digitalisation and institutional reform measures.