Meal tickets are one of the most popular benefits for employees. However, international practice shows that they are an additional source of income, especially for employees with minimum wage. On the other hand, there is a risk of tax evasion and an electoral initiative, according to the conclusions made in the public debate on the draft law on meal tickets.
Expert in economics, Dorin Vaculovschi notes that meal tickets contribute to increased expenses for the maintenance of employees in organizations and, respectively, to increase the total expenses incurred by the organization. At the same time, the lack of an overview on the new mechanism of functioning of the social policy based on meal tickets prevent the prospect of an effective implementation of the law, and the economic situation in Moldova only oppresses the implementation of the system based on vouchers (the system is more suitable for industrialized countries).
Present at the discussion, Adrian Candu, Chairman of Parliament and one of the authors of the project, said he sees meal tickets as a social tool and a net income, not taxed from employees. It is a cost to the employer, but deductible. "The price for a ticket was set at 45 lei and took into account the minimum consumption and the inflation rate. In addition to the social part we assume that there will be the economic impact on sales".
"If things seem to be simple in Moldova, meal tickets will complicate them. The initiative should not be seen as a social, but also economic and fiscal one. Tickets appeared in countries with union traditions and later were taken over by companies dealing with tax optimization and promoted in other countries including Moldova. Syncing issue of tickets we can notice that it was promoted in pre-election years (2007, 2008, 2010 and 2016). Thus, a political tool is trying to be wrapped and presented in a good form to society. It is also very difficult to realize the monetary and inflation effects. Given that Moldova has the problem of the Leu in the uncontrolled area, the monetary policy is with bad transmission signals and then a new surrogate included into the economic cycle will only complicate the situation. Moreover, the introduction of tickets cancels further increase of salaries”, said Veaceslav Negruta, Transparency International expert.
"We intend to introduce a social protection instrument. We are sure we can find formulas required to achieve the maximum benefit for employees. We opt for transparent discussions on the project with the involvement of experts and trade unions. We must keep in mind that the state is the largest employer", believes Valentina Buliga.
"Any social project promoted in society should take account primarily socio-economic situation in the country. If you analyze the data, in recent years the number of employees was reduced substantially on a background of the growing number of pensioners and recipients of social benefits. The number of employees is not so great, and the presence of many in the informal sectors hinders the overall situation because the number of contributors to the social pension fund is declining annually. Moreover, a large number of young potential employees who are not in school or nor employed, about 18% is maintained. Respectively, meal tickets are more necessary for pensioners and vulnerable groups living in poverty, for whom a hot lunch is a luxury" said an expert in social policy from IDIS Viitorul, Viorica Antonov.
The public debate was organized within the project on monitoring political and social processes, and formulating political synthesis, implemented by IDIS "Viitorul", in partnership with the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung Foundation.
For more details, please contact the Public Relations Coordinator of IDIS "Viitorul", Victor Ursu - 069 017 396 or e-mail ursu.victoor@gmail.com
