The Tax Office impounds jewelry, but only sells baubles

• The secondary market organized by the Ministry of Finance for selling impounded goods hides has major flaws which lead to millions of lei wasted

"A dime a dozen". That seems to be the motto of the Tax Office when selling the products it has seized.

Last year, for 31.6 million items seized, the Tax Administration earned just 26.8 million lei, according to data by provided by the National Tax Administration Agency, in a press release sent to our editors.

That"s less than 1 leu per item on average.

The proceeds from the sale of goods seized, which was done through the Tax administration"s own network of stores, by direct sale or by public auction increased over 2008, when the tax administration only made 19 million lei for 32 million items, according to the press release.

In the fight against illicit trade, the amount of goods seized by the authorities is definitely impressive.

In the agricultural sector alone, data obtained by BURSA shows that the state seized goods worth over EUR 150,000: 936 tons of grain, 229 tons of flour, 30 vehicles etc.

The items seized by the state are extremely varied: food, clothing and footwear, electronics, precious metals, cars, securities etc.

Basically, anyone in any county can buy from the state goods at bargain prices, from farming land, cars, jewels, clothing or fishing tools, even stocks.

For instance, you can purchase an Opel Omega Karavan in good condition for 2850 lei, a Ford Escort for 2967 lei, or an unregistered BMW 525 for just 750 lei.

While on the market gold costs more than 100 lei/gram, seized gold items sell for just 48 lei/gram, while silver items can go as low as 2 lei/gram.

Also, a plot of land within the city limits at the seaside can cost 21,828 lei, and the price per square meter for arable land can go as low as 1 leu.

And the list goes on and on...

The prices on the market are visibly higher than the ones of the tax administration.

But that is precisely why the prices are so low. The tax administration has not put together an organized market for selling these goods, since it wasn"t interested in selling them in a transparent manner.

This is precisely where the problem lies: most people are not aware of this opportunity, which is a fact that even those who are directly involved will admit.

"Unfortunately, on the website of the Ministry of Finance, which is the place most people go to for information on this matter, there is no mention of the addresses where these goods can be purchased, and in order to improve communication with the public, this is an issue that should be solved", one auctioneer said.

There are voices that claim that this veil of secrecy that surrounds the sale of seized goods is deliberate, in order to make sure that the best goods can be bought at bargain prices by those in the know.

This seems to explain why the average price for the items sold is less than 1 leu, and why the seized goods sell out very quickly.

Ion Dedu, the Chairman of the Professional Association of Trade, Tourism, Industry and Services (PCTIS), said: "Indeed, the procedure for the sale of seized goods is rather vague, and it includes auctions, direct sales, or free of charge assignment. The problem is that the Ministry of Finance applies the legislation in such a manner that prevents transparency and most of the potential buyers from participating in these auctions".

The leader of the PCTIS said that the website of the Ministry of Finance is a hub for big business involving seized goods, "with a perfectly legal cover", however he does not rule out the fact that "it is simply an unintended oversight of the people who paid for the website".

However, unintended or not, such oversights should be remedied, and the Tax Administration should be the first to correct them, since this is its purpose: increase the revenues of the state.