There is something deeply disturbing about the way the tax administration is behaving after the fiscal amnesty law came into effect. And the responsibility for this cannot remain anonymous.
The Minister of Finance and the Director General of Taxes cannot remain silent or act as if they do not see what is happening on the ground, where businesses are facing an absurd reality. The state adopts a law, publishes it in the Official Gazette, but the administration continues to act as if that law does not exist.
The fiscal amnesty law was not born overnight. It went through months of discussions, political debates, opposition from the opposition, meetings in the Economy Committee, technical analyses, drafting and then voting in Parliament. In the end, the law was published in the Official Gazette and entered into force as a law of the Republic of Albania. So, we are dealing with an official act of the Albanian state, not a television promise or a political statement of the moment.
But on the ground, businesses continue to face aggressive controls, activity blockades, tape on doors, and administrative pressure, as if the law did not exist at all. Instead of the law's entry into force bringing clarity, legal certainty, and a uniform standard for all, the feeling of a dangerous selection is being created.
And here some questions arise that require public answers.
Mr. Minister of Finance,
How is it explained that a law approved by Parliament and published in the Official Gazette is not being uniformly implemented on the ground?
How can it be justified that the tax administration acts as if this law does not exist, imposing barriers and punitive measures against businesses that are precisely waiting for its implementation?
Mr. Director General of Taxation,
Are you aware of the way the structures on the ground are operating? Or is this precisely the way they have been ordered to implement the law, blocking it in practice?
Who was this law made for? For all businesses or just for some? Because the way it is being acted upon creates the belief that in Albania even the law can be interpreted according to desire, according to interest, or according to orders coming from above.
Many inspectors in the field justify themselves with the classic phrase "We have orders." But in a state governed by the rule of law, orders cannot stand above the law. Especially over a law approved by Parliament and that has officially entered into force.
If the very institutions that drafted, supported, and promoted this law continue to ignore it in practice, then the problem is no longer just fiscal, but we are dealing with a crisis of trust in the state and institutions.
What value does Parliament have if its laws are not enforced?
What value does the Official Gazette have if the administration can act as if it does not exist?
And what assurance does a citizen or business have that tomorrow another law will not be violated by those who voted for it?
Business is not asking for favors. It is not asking for privileges. It is only asking for the implementation of an existing law. It is asking for legal certainty and an equal standard for all. Otherwise, the entire process of discussions, votes and approvals remains simply a political facade without any real value. And when the state itself does not respect the law it approves, then not only business is harmed. Trust in the state, in the institution and in the justice system itself is harmed.
The law cannot be used as propaganda in Parliament and violated on the ground. You cannot ask citizens to respect the state, when the state itself only uses the law when it is convenient.
History has shown that any government that places order above the law sooner or later ends up overthrown by the injustice it has itself built.
