FLASH
Shkruar nga Pamfleti
There is a paragraph in the law on National Taxes. It is the article that determines the taxation of chrome. And the article expressly says:
"The percentage of royalty for the content of metal ore in the mining by-product is 3/7 of the royalty rate for 2019, 3/8 of the royalty rate for 2020 at the rate of 0% for the period from the entry into force of this the law until the end of 2023 and 1/3 of the interest rate for 2024 and beyond"
This article of law is unique in the world. There is no second case in the world, that a government has imposed a fractional tax. And the reason why the article is written like that is certainly not the public interest. The vast majority of deputies who voted for the law did not understand at all what they approved. However, the story simply explained is like this.
At the end of 2014, the Ministry of Finance sent the new fiscal package to the Parliament. One of the measures proposed by the package was the reduction of the tax on chrome that is processed in the country in the form of ferrochrome because this was requested by an interest group called "Mineral Association of Albania" to promote the processing of the mineral in the country by obtaining more value. added.
At that time, the crude chrome rent was 6 percent. According to the government's proposal, the rent paid on export for chrome processed in the country was 2/3 of the rent for chrome exported gross, i.e. 4 percent. The measure was voted by Parliament. At that time, Albania had only one chrome processor, the Albchrome company, which had just been acquired by the Balfin group. This was only the first change.
Albanian madness
Two years later, at the end of 2016, the government proposed two more favors for chrome processors. The first change was the one that lowered the rent from 6 percent to 3 percent, for the chrome that the producing companies sold to the processors. So if a chrome gallery took the chrome directly to export it would pay 6 percent interest. But if he sold it to local processors he would only pay 3 percent. The measure forced chrome producers to sell it to refiners.
The second change was the reduction again of the rent for processed chrome. What at the end of 2014 reduced the crude chrome rent by 2/3, now proposed to reduce it to 1/2. So if for crude chrome the rent remained 6 percent, for processed chrome it became 3 percent.
This time the proposal came from the Mining Association of Albania. At that time, there were only two companies in Albania processing chrome and beneficiaries of this relief. But of course Albchrome had the lion's share. This was the second change.
The third change would come two years later. At the end of 2018, the government again proposed to change the rent. This time further increasing the royalty for chrome exported gross from 6 percent to 9 percent. So to force even more chrome producers to sell their chrome to domestic processing plants.
Këtë herë, justifikimi i qeverisë ishte se Shqipërisë po mbaronte kromi dhe duhej dekurajuar sa më shumë eksporti i kromit bruto, me qëllim që të nxitej përpunimi në vend. Përfituesit e lehtësimit ishin tre kompanive. Përveç dy ekzistueseve në vitin 2017, ishte hapur dhe një uzine e tretë e përpunimit të kromit në Refraktare të Elbasanit nga kompania GSA. Por sigurisht përpunuesi më i madh mbetej gjithmonë Albchrome.
Po sikur ta heqim fare?
Në fund të vitit 2020, erdhi qershia mbi tortë. Për shkak të rënies së çmimeve të kromit si pasojë e pandemisë, Shoqata e Minierave të Shqipërisë u bë e gjallë sërish. Këtë herë u propozua që taksa për kromin e përpunuar të hiqej fare, për tre vjet.
The move was justified as necessary to keep the country's mining industry afloat, which would otherwise go bankrupt, putting all the miners out of work.
This time, apart from chrome, copper processing plants also benefited. Parliament abolished the tax. It was the golden age of the Corporate generation.
But chrome prices recovered again. And 8 months after Parliament abolished the tax on processed minerals, Albchrome was sold by Balfin to the Turkish group Yildirim, now at a better price also because the buying company would work two years tax-free.
Albania's chrome output is extracted from the underground and the citizens benefit nothing. Because the rent is zero. The second result? Look at the article in the picture. He is the clearest evidence of what kind of government Albania has./ Oligarchy
Lini një Përgjigje