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The review of lawsuits for free professions is over, the Constitutional Court will give the decision within 1 month

2024-06-25 13:50:20Biznes SHKRUAR NGA REDAKSIA VOX

The review of lawsuits for free professions is over, the Constitutional Court

In the Constitutional Court, the hearing continued today with the presentation of conclusions by the parties for the repeal of the law "On Income Tax" that started implementation from January 1, 2024 with free professions.

In the previous session, the parties were given a deadline of June 21 to submit additional evidence. At the beginning of today's session, the President of the Court decided the administration of the deposited evidence and continued with the hearing of the conclusions that were presented by the parties.

After the presentation of the final conclusions, the President of the Constitutional Court Holta Zaçaj declared the end of the judicial examination of the case, while she said that the date and time of the announcement of the decision will be communicated according to the legal provisions.

The lawyers claim that according to the legal provisions, the deadline for rendering the decision allows up to 30 days, referring to the law "On the organization and functioning of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Albania" No. 8577, dated 10.2.2000 (amended by law no. 99/2016) .

In point 3 of article 47 it is quoted: "The final decision is announced with reasons no later than 30 days from the end of the session, except for cases where it is provided otherwise in this law".

Likewise, in the previous session of June 18, the Constitutional Court decided by a majority of votes to overturn the request for suspension, with the argument that the case will be treated with priority. So the law will continue to be applied until the announcement of the court's decision.

"The court decided by a majority of votes to overturn the request for suspension, considering that the process is being judged with priority", argued in the last session the president of the Constitutional Court Holta Zaçaj.

Final conclusions

Unanimously, the legal representatives of the lawsuits repeated in the presentation of the conclusions that the law "On income tax" violates the principles of constitutional equality, the fundamental right of economic activity, violates the principle of the rule of law and legal security.

The representative of the DP parliamentary group, Jorida Tabaku, during the presentation of the final conclusions, said that during these 11 years with the fiscal policies of the government, there has been a fiscal evasion and fiscal irresponsibility that has further produced an increase in informality and other damages in the economy. She emphasized that the law "On income tax" not only violates legal certainty, but is discriminatory for 30,000 self-employed subjects.

"We offered you evidence and arguments that the tax rate of 0, 8, 13 and 23% and what is being applied today to freelancers, which goes up to 40% for freelancers, is dishonest and unconstitutional. The inability of the tax administration to implement the law, is being translated into an unfair tax. While the IMF proposes that there should be no fragmentation and differentiation with taxes, the government deepens this with the law it has adopted.

Even with the IMF report that the government has brought as evidence, it is abusive, because that report clearly demonstrates the violation of legal security, negative discrimination, and the lack of fair competition. We do not ask this judicial body to take the tax of the executive, nor to remove from the Parliament a function that belongs to it by law, but to preserve the constitutional right and to have justice in the tax system that has been distorted by the legislature", affirmed Mrs. Tobacco.

Marash Logu, the lawyer representing the group of DP deputies, did not stop at presenting the conclusions, as he submitted the arguments of the unconstitutionality of the law in a 20-page report to the court.

The representative of the National Bar Association repeated several times that with the "Income Tax" law, there continues to be progressive denigration of the lawyer's profession. "Initially, the right to make contracts and transfer property was taken away. Then the mediation was removed, the judicial map was adopted, and finally the tax was imposed, almost unaffordable. Lawyers are unable to secure income for the exercise of their profession, the profession of lawyer is about to end".

The legal representative of IKM and IEAKA in presenting the final conclusions asserted that the law differentiates between two categories that are essentially the same. According to him, even in the submissions of the Council of Ministers, which is presented as the reason for the differentiation of taxation between free professions and other businesses, the principle of the ability to pay more for those with high incomes is unfair.

"The applicants also say that the discrimination is limited in time. Meanwhile, other businesses will be tax-free for 6 years. This will structurally affect businesses. The time limit would be reasonable if we were in an extraordinary situation", he asserted in giving the conclusions.

The lawyer of the lawsuit of IKM and IEKA demanded that the Constitutional Court restore balance. To place all taxpayers equally so that the contribution is equal.

In the presentation of the final conclusions by the representative of the Assembly of Albania, it was said that the law does not create any inequality, does not discriminate against any group of individuals, does not violate any of the Constitutional principles. The self-employed category of self-employed individuals selling goods and traders providing services are taxed at equal tax rates on net profit. The only differentiation according to the law is the time of application of the tax."

She said that the cumulative income, declared by free professions in 5 years, amounts to 3 billion USD, while the net profit is 1.7 billion USD, a lack of collection of income in the amount of 25 billion lek.

"We have argued that for 9 years this category has not paid tax. It remains the discretion of the states to review the fiscal policy when this policy has achieved its goal or created negative phenomena as it happened. We have argued the creation of abusive schemes to avoid tax, which have led to the intervention of tax imposition. Despite the imposition of the tax, this category remains privileged," she asserted.

Even the representative of the Council of Ministers said that the law is not discriminatory and that the claims of the parties remain at the declarative level.


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