“Cracking tax evasion” is the safe way to unleash even press silencing operations from the democratically juvenile state – and that’s exactly what’s happening in Albania at the behest of Edi Rama’s government, says the Balkan Insight website .
The complaints are very specific. The Albanian Directorate General of Taxation has thrown heavy “bells” at several television stations which, quite coincidentally, criticize the government. The fines are brave by Albanian standards: for example, Ora News will pay 437,000 euros, while Focus News 173,000 euros – in lek, of course. Tax evasion is popular in Albania, the website wrote, although it is done in an old-fashioned way.
Companies keep double books, one for tax and another for illegal accounting management, in order to hide income and avoid taxation. And the payroll is partly done in black. In December 2021, a file with payroll data of 630,000 workers, i.e. the entire workforce of Albania, was released on the Internet. It turned out that many companies declared very low wages, so the state apparatus was mobilized. The government has decided to send tax inspectors to companies in the media sector. The “question” is why Rama started a crackdown on tax evasion and the shadow economy by the media that criticizes him.
Of course, he denies the accusation and claims that he did his duty by honoring the role of the press. However, no government agency provided further clarification. Sanctions, according to the media that collected the bribes, the website’s report says, are not the only tool used to silence Rama’s annoying voices. The Hysenbelliu Group, which owns News 24, the Balkanweb website and the Panorama newspaper, has been targeted with several fines of all kinds and is protesting a “multi-faceted campaign against it”.
He states that the total “bell” reaches the astronomical amount of 17 million euros and that it emanates from the prime minister’s office: “Rama wants to shut us down.” Rama, 58, leader of the Socialist Party, has ruled since 2013. According to surveys by European organizations, Albania is the Balkan country with the highest rate of administrative corruption, with half of Albanians conducting their affairs through the traditional method of ” lubrication”.
Source : Protagon
