Tabaku addresses Rama: Albania imposes more fines than the region! State administration pressures businesses

Following Edi Rama’s statements on fines and inspections, Democratic Party MP Jorida Tabaku responded by analyzing how the state administration exerts pressure on businesses.

According to Tabaku, fines are not being used to combat informality or improve the economic climate, but have become an instrument of pressure that fuels corruption and primarily targets businesses that comply with the law.

In 2022 and 2023 alone, the tax administration imposed around 4.6 billion lek in penalties.

She emphasized that complaints from citizens and entrepreneurs about the administration have increased. According to her, fines are being used as a means of blackmail to collect what she described as a “corruption tax.”

Tabaku noted that while the informal economy accounts for around 40 percent of the country’s economy and remains among the highest in the region, pressure from institutions is focused on compliant and honest businesses.

Referring to data for 2024, she said that around 28 million euros in penalties were imposed in Albania, compared with 4.6 million euros in Serbia and 1.4 million euros in Montenegro.

Another case she highlighted was that of the National Inspectorate for Territorial Protection (IKMT). According to Tabaku, in 2024 alone, this institution imposed 447 fines worth around 1.2 billion lek, while managing to collect only around 2 percent of them.

Tabaku also raised concerns about the lack of transparency regarding the number of fines imposed, the amount collected, penalties overturned on appeal or by the courts, and cases in which fines were waived.

She underscored that the Unified Register of Fines was only created in 2026, after more than a decade of discrepancies and a lack of information.

According to Tabaku, the tax administration has become a structure in which inspectors act “like cowboys” toward businesses as a result of a system that seeks to control the economy through fines.

“Businesses are burdened not only by unfair taxes, but also by state officials who knock on the doors of businesses that comply with the law instead of those of tax evaders, whom they give a wink and let off.

In 2022 and 2023 alone, the tax administration imposed 4.6 billion lek in penalties.

More and more every day, not only over the phone but also during meetings with citizens, I have heard complaints about an administration that uses fines as a means of blackmail to collect the corruption tax.

Instead of addressing the informal economy, which accounts for around 40 percent of the economy and is among the highest in the region, the government targets compliant and honest businesses.

In Albania, 28 million euros in penalties were imposed in 2024. In Serbia, 4.6 million euros were imposed, while in Montenegro the figure was 1.4 million euros. This is a simple comparison showing how fines are becoming a means of pressure.

Another example is the IKMT. In 2024 alone, this institution imposed 447 fines worth around 1.2 billion lek. But only around 2 percent of the fines issued that year were collected.

Second, we still do not have a complete and transparent picture: how many fines are imposed, how many are collected, how many are overturned following appeals or by the courts and, ultimately, whose fines are waived.

We have heard about the creation of boards and agencies for everything, but there has been no real transparency over the system of fines. The Unified Register of Fines was only created in 2026, after more than a decade of fines, discrepancies and a lack of information.

There is a reason why Albania has become a country where fines are used so frequently. There is a reason why tax inspectors behave like cowboys knocking on business owners’ doors. And there is a reason why citizens do not know how many fines the government imposes, how many it collects and how many it waives.

It is the system built over these years.

A socialist system that seeks to control everything through an autocracy of fines and the corruption tax.

This system must be brought down, because the longer it lasts, the more fines are imposed, the higher the penalties become and the greater the pressure on businesses,” Tabaku said.