Parliament passes bill on taxing lawmaker pensions in excess of 7,001 lei by 85% of excess

Voting on the provisions of a law supplementing Law 227/2015 regarding the Tax Code in relation with allowances for the age limit provided by Law 96/2006 on the statutes of the lawmakers at a joint plenary session on Thursday, Parliament decided that state pensions of Romania's lawmakers over 7,001 lei will be taxed at 85% the amount in excess.

The bill passed 354 to one abstention and 43 present.

At a plenary session on Wednesday, the Chamber of Deputies passed, 307 to 1, a bill amending and supplementing Law 227/2015 on the Tax Code regulating taxation of old-age income and allowances, but the standing bureaus decided at a joint sitting on Thursday to reintroduce the item on the agenda of the joint plenary session, the reason being related to the pensions of lawmakers.

Save Romania Union (USR) requested that the item be removed from the agenda, on the grounds of possible unconstitutionality, because Parliament does not vote on "provisions", but bills. The proposal was rejected by 276 lawmakers.

The bill, adopted by the Senate in 2019, was supported in the plenary sitting by all parliamentary groups and introduces the notion of "tax on income from pensions and old-age allowances."

According to a joint amendment of the Social Democratic Party (PSD), the National Liberal Party (PNL) and the Save Romania Union (USR), state pensions of up to and including 2,000 lei are tax exempt, those between 2,000 and 7,000 are taxed 10% the difference between 2,000 lei and the actual pension, while state pensions in excess of 7,001 lei are taxed 85% of what exceeds the amount of 7,001 lei.