AKIPRESS.COM - The percentage of firms reporting that tax rates are major/very severe problem went down from 49 percent in 2008 to 29 percent in 2013, according to the 2013 Business Environment and Enterprise Performance Survey (BEEPS).

In 2008, 90 percent of firms reported that tax rates are a problem: by 2013 this number decreased to 77 percent.

Tax policy reforms have contributed to these trends. The corporate income tax rate was slashed from 20 to 10 percent in 2007 while social contributions were reduced from 19 to 17 percent. A new tax code was adopted in 2009 which, among other things, reduced the number of taxes from 16 to 8 and established a number of special simplified tax regimes.

The share of firms reporting tax administration as a problem decreased from 78 to 52 percent between 2008 and 2013. An important finding is that small firms appear to have been particular beneficiaries: only 37 percent of small firms perceived tax administration as a problem in 2013. The percentage of small and large firms perceiving tax administration as a major obstacle was reduced by half, while the percentage of medium firms perceiving tax administration as a major obstacle has not changed.