A strong state does not mean a state that taxes more, but that collects efficiently, spends responsibly and inspires trust, without which investments are postponed, capital leaves and society enters a defensive logic, said, on Tuesday, the president of the Supervisory and Advisory Council of the International Tax Association – IFA Romania, Flavius Jakubowicz.
“We must also state an important truth: a strong state does not mean a state that taxes more. A strong state means a state that collects efficiently, spends responsibly and inspires trust. And trust is the fundamental currency of a modern economy. Without trust, investments are postponed, capital leaves, entrepreneurship is blocked, and society enters a defensive logic. We are already seeing many very clear warnings from the international investment environment regarding the importance of continuing the assumed reforms and accelerating the process of accession to the OECD. Representatives of the private sector have recently conveyed that the implementation of the assumed reforms risks deteriorating the business climate and affecting Romania’s financial credibility if they are not implemented within the assumed terms and conditions. This is one of the reasons why IFA Romania aims to become not just a professional organization, but a platform for strategic reflection for the fiscal and economic future of Romania”, stated Jakubowicz, at the official launch conference of IFA Romania, according to Agerpres.
He stressed that Romania must be present at the “table of major international debates”, and not just to subsequently take over rules built by others, and in this sense IFA wants to come up with solutions.
“We don’t want to make noise, we want to come up with solutions. In a world where international taxation is becoming increasingly complex, (…) crypto assets and everything that means economy and digitalization and artificial intelligence, Romania must be present at the table of major international debates, and not just to subsequently take over rules built by others. In this context, IFA aims to contribute to the consolidation of professional and institutional dialogue in the field of international taxation and to connecting the professional community in Romania, to the global exchange of expertise and good practices”, argued the representative of IFA Romania.
At the same time, the organization wants to develop a framework for collaboration and dialogue in which representatives of the authorities, academia, legal and economic professions, the business community and the new generation of professionals can contribute to the development of a modern and competitive tax ecosystem.
“The new generation of young professionals must have something to learn from us, those with experience, and we must not shy away from passing on to them the know-how that we have. They will be the future. Today, perhaps more than ever, we need cooperation between institutions and professions, because the current economic and tax transformations require dialogue and cooperation in all components of the institutional and professional ecosystem. We can no longer talk about taxation if we do not talk about technology, compliance, sustainability, financial markets, corporate governance, economic security and, last but not least, international competitiveness,” said Flavius Jakubowicz.
According to him, Romania has professionals, competitive entrepreneurs, valuable universities, and institutions “that can perform through people with vision,” but more coherence and strategic courage are needed, as well as political understanding.
“We have extraordinary professionals, we have competitive entrepreneurs who can and know how to adapt to difficult situations. We have valuable universities and we have institutions that can perform through people with vision. We have been witnessing, in recent years, a change of personnel, I could say, and the people I have interacted with from various state institutions can tell you – and you certainly know this too – they come with a new vision and an openness to dialogue, mainly towards the private sector. But we need more dialogue, more coherence and more strategic courage. Naturally, and a political understanding that, unfortunately, this cannot be done without politics,” Jakubowicz specified.
The President of the Supervisory and Advisory Board of IFA Romania added that economic stability is no longer just a technical objective, but a condition for national security and strategic competitiveness.
“In conclusion, I would like to say one simple thing: IFA Romania is not just about taxation, it is about trust, dialogue and connecting Romania to an international community of expertise. It is about our ability to build together a more mature, more predictable and better anchored professional framework in the realities of the global economy. We want this project to contribute to a Romania in which taxation is not only seen as an obligation and as part of a contract of trust between the state, economy and society, because sustainable development is not built only through rules, it is built through institutions, through professionals and, last but not least, through trust. And if there is one thing that I think we should all understand, in this period, we should know that economic stability is no longer just a technical objective. It has become a condition of national security and strategic competitiveness”, he pointed out.
The official launch event of IFA Romania took place on Tuesday in the presence of representatives of public authorities, tax experts, entrepreneurs, economists, consultants and business leaders. IFA Romania is affiliated with the International Fiscal Association (IFA Global), one of the most important international organizations dedicated to taxation, headquartered in the Netherlands.
IFA Romania aims to become an independent and neutral platform for dialogue between authorities, academia, tax consultants, lawyers, economists, company representatives and specialists in the field of international taxation, in an economic and fiscal context that is in continuous transformation.