There are no precise estimates of how much money is "turned around" annually in the black economy in Montenegro. It has been speculated for years whether that amount is between 20 and 30 percent of GDP.
Last week, the government also adopted another annual action plan to combat the gray economy. As in the past, the emphasis was placed on indiscriminate application of the law and zero tolerance for non-payment of taxes.
However, according to government data, the tax debt is currently 420 million euros, so the question is how effective such plans have been, and whether the newly adopted plan will be treated similarly.
This year too, the Government plans to fight against the gray economy. How it will proceed is specified in the action plan based on three basic principles.
"First of all, non-selectivity, that is, consistent application of the law to everyone, to every taxpayer regardless of the function of the activity. Also transparency, but also a zero tolerance rate in relation to this phenomenon," said Finance Minister Radoje Žugić.
The government is guided by almost identical principles every year, says Ivana Gudović, economy editor in the "Vijesti" newspaper.
"It is precisely the government that has on paper the fight against the gray economy and year after year adopts action plans that are mostly rewritten," said Gudović.
Analyst Vasilije Kostić believes that plans are necessary in order to act systematically, but also to make progress measurable.
"If those plans and action plans become an end in themselves, then it is clear that it is pointless," pointed out Kostić.
Despite the zero tolerance rate, the tax debt is 420 million euros.
"Revenues from excise taxes show how many results the fight against smuggling has. They have slightly increased this year compared to the previous one, but you have a situation where last year, about five million less was collected from excise taxes than in 2013, which means that you have a problem here, that the government is not fighting more significantly against the gray economy," Gudović believes.
Even more precise data on the share of the gray economy in GDP is not available. It is estimated to vary between 20 and 30 percent. In regulated countries, this percentage is expressed in single-digit numbers.
"The high presence of the gray economy in an economy, a state or a society can be a serious indication of two things, namely that the institutions of the system are not established and do not perform their work as they should, and the second thing is that this is an indication that it is not attractive to do business in the formal economy," claims Kostić.
And sometimes for absurd reasons.
"Institutions that deal with control and supervision, the subject of their control is only the legal sector, only the one that performs the formal sphere, and they are the subject of punishment and persecution," added Kostić.
"The government and its institutions, which we all pay for, should strengthen the inspection services, perhaps have more inspectors than advisers, so that they have a visible reckoning with the gray zone on the ground and that we have results in the form of income," said Gudović.
In order for this to bear fruit, it is necessary to do exactly what has been promoted for years - to apply the law indiscriminately, and more than once it has been said from various employers' associations that the laws do not apply equally to everyone.
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