Nawaf Salameh, Alexandrion Group: "The government has stabilized the turnover tax by 1% because it is unable to collect VAT"

The 1% tax on turnover will have a negative impact on beverage producers in our country, who are forced to face at the same time possible losses that will be generated by the deadlines set by the state for exhausting existing stocks before entering the effect of the Warranty-Return System (SGR), said Nawaf Salameh, president of Alexandrion Group, yesterday, during a press conference in which he presented the company's development directions and the new Alexandrion Experience concept.

Regarding the 1% tax, Nawaf Salameh told us: "Of course the minimum turnover tax will have a financial impact on Alexandrion Group. This measure was taken because the state cannot collect the fees and taxes established in the state budget. Because the state is unable to collect VAT, it imposed this tax on turnover. It is a wrongly thought out system, especially since Alexandrion Group's policy is to reinvest 80% of the profit tax in production activities in Romania. However, if a tax of 1% of the turnover is applied to us, the investments we plan in various branches of the national economy will suffer. For example, we entered the renewable energy market, we obtained all the authorizations for the realization of 500 MWh of solar and wind capacity on the land we own in Dobrogea, we want to realize another similar project, also of 500 MWh, and we will also have storage capacity for 150 MW. It is the first private project in the country that includes a storage capacity of this size, and Transelectrica is now looking for a code for something like this, because there has never been such a project before. These investments are made from profit, profit generated by the turnover, or, if you tax with 1% of the turnover, this will also be seen in the deadline for making the scheduled investments".

The founding president of Alexandrion Group is also dissatisfied with the term established by HG 1074/2021 (amended by HG 1075/2023) regarding the depletion of stocks with the implementation of the guarantee-return system, especially in the case of alcoholic spirits and wines obtained and subjected the maturation and aging process, drinks that also have a higher commercial value, the commercialization time being longer, the exhaustion of existing stocks before November 30, 2023 cannot be done until June 30, 2024 as currently provided by the normative act of field, and not until December 31, 2024 as stipulated by the amendment project of GD 1074/2021 initiated by the Ministry of Environment, Water and Forests. According to the producers in the field, the correct term would be that the respective stocks are no longer sold from the date of their exhaustion.

Regarding all these things and the SGR, Nawaf Salameh told us: "Through this normative act, the Romanian state is pressuring an industry to go at a speed that it cannot. I don't understand how these people think. That law is in place, but something needs to be done to improve it. For example, regarding the collection centers, those who sell the goods in counties bordering the Capital cannot come and bring the bottles to the center in Bucharest, because that involves high costs. In Germany, such centers were built 10 kilometers away from urban agglomerations. Of course, we will record damages if the deadlines set by the Government remain, without taking into account spirits and wines obtained and produced through maturation and aging. Maybe we as a group will not be affected much because we export a large amount of products, but I don't understand how the policy makers think. At the governmental level, examples are copied from outside, from other states, but we are not yet at the level of those states. It's a joke, especially since we hear the political decision-makers when they compare this system with the one in Germany and say that it is equally efficient. It would be, but in Germany the state contributed financially to the realization of the recycling system, it did not do it with the money of the business environment as in Romania. We would rather invest in salaries, to create better living conditions for employees, citizens. Recycling is a luxury, but in order to afford this luxury, the citizen must live in normal conditions, have a good salary, with which he can buy clothes, shoes, eat healthier and consume quality drinks".

His Majesty also said that, unfortunately, in our country the luxury of recycling is achieved by the Government at the expense of companies from the private business environment, which is incorrect.