A bag of lies for citizens, billions for oligarchs” – Tabaku: The new fiscal package will hit citizens’ pockets, handing small businesses a new bill

Democratic Party MP Jorida Tabaku warned that the government’s proposed 2027 Fiscal Package would increase costs for small businesses and uncertainty for Albanian families.

In her “Weekend Corner” video, she opposed the proposed lowering of the VAT threshold from 10 million to 5 million lek and the increase in the standard rate to 21%.

According to Tabaku, bringing businesses that are currently outside the VAT system into it will force entrepreneurs to make difficult choices: raise prices, accept lower income, or risk closing down. She also warned that this could fuel informality and the artificial splitting of business activities to remain below the new threshold.

The MP stressed that behind every small business are a family’s savings and hard work. Turnover, she argued, is not the owner’s personal income, as it is used to pay suppliers, rent, and business expenses.

Addressing the proposal to lower VAT on food to 6%, Tabaku said the relief was necessary but called for its impact to be measured by whether grocery bills actually fall. In her view, a lack of competition and concentrated markets could prevent the full tax cut from being passed on to consumers.

“Families cannot fill their shopping baskets with government propaganda,” she said.

On the road tax, Tabaku opposed presenting the shift in payment from fuel to an annual vehicle charge as a form of relief. Citizens, she said, care about the total burden they pay.

In response to these changes, the MP said a proposal was being discussed for a fiscal code with clear rules and policies to support businesses, which she described as a “constitution for business.”

She also called for education to be linked to the labor market and the manufacturing sector, as well as for accountability in the use of public money.