Fiscal Package 2027 is being presented with easing measures for consumers and part of the workforce, but in the background it also brings a new burden for businesses. The main criticism is not only about the rates that are changing, but also about the lack of a clear balance showing who actually benefits and who will pay the cost.
A package pulling in two directions
Fiscal expert Eduart Gjokutaj says the package contains easing elements, but is not accompanied by an integrated assessment showing the full effect across income groups and sectors.
According to him, without this analysis, any claim of improvement remains insufficiently supported, as it is not clearly understood how the burden is distributed among consumers, employees and businesses.
VAT on food goes down, but rises elsewhere
Among the main interventions is VAT. The package provides for a reduction in VAT on food, but at the same time proposes raising the standard rate from 20% to 21%, changing the rate for accommodation, and lowering the VAT registration threshold for businesses.
Gjokutaj argues that these measures do not move in a single direction. According to him, a reduction in one segment and increases in other segments may produce a more limited effect than claimed.
Even for basic food products, he raises questions about the real impact on the final price. The VAT cut, he says, does not automatically guarantee that consumers will fully feel it in prices, since the result depends on the entire supply chain, from producers to traders, as well as on costs and competition in the market.
VAT threshold brings new pressure on small businesses
One of the points that directly affects entrepreneurship is the lowering of the VAT registration threshold from 10 million lek to 5 million lek in annual turnover. According to Gjokutaj, this move could bring in as many as 20,000 new taxpayers.
He warns that the change will not mean only entry into the VAT scheme, but also additional costs for accounting, invoicing and reporting. For small businesses, this could bring not only a financial burden, but also confusion over the regime on which they have built their activity until now.
According to the expert, the consequences could also affect those entities that have made medium-term financial plans or taken on loans based on the existing rules.
Changes to wages as well, benefits not distributed equally
The package also intervenes in income tax on wages. The proposed scheme raises the threshold of the taxable base taxed at 13%, while the 23% rate will apply to the bracket from 300,000 to 700,000 lek. For income above 700,000 lek, a new rate of up to 32% is envisaged.
According to Gjokutaj, the main benefit from the revision of the brackets goes to employees with salaries above 200,000 lek, while higher salaries will face an increase in their fiscal contribution. This means the effect of the package is not distributed evenly across income categories.
Criticism over lack of predictability
Gjokutaj says these changes do not move in sync with the Medium-Term Revenue Strategy, harmonized, according to him, with the recommendations of the European Union and the International Monetary Fund.
At its core, his criticism is that the package combines measures that ease the burden on consumers and part of the workforce, while at the same time shifting new costs onto business. In a climate where entrepreneurship is seeking stable and predictable rules, rapid changes without full analysis risk being read more as a need to fill the budget than as a studied fiscal reform.
The debate over Fiscal Package 2027 remains centered on the fundamental question that still has not received a full answer: who really benefits from these moves, and who bears the main burden.
So far, the signal coming from the package is mixed: relief on one side, costs and uncertainty on the other.