Changes to the package of tax laws introduced by the Council of Ministers and proposed by the Ministry of Finance were rejected in the first reading in the parliamentary budget committee. Only PP-DB supported them, but did not gather a majority. GERB-SDS and DPS voted “abstain”.
The MPs gathered a majority and supported only one proposal for changes to the Law on Excise Taxes and Tax Warehouses, submitted by People’s Representative from PP-DB Daniela Bozhinova. They foresee allowing the production of beer of up to 100 liters at a time in domestic conditions, but not for sale, but for consumption at home. The most controversial idea was the idea of a “whistleblower bonus” or a financial bonus for people who submit information about abuses of at least BGN 100,000. It is planned that individuals will receive an incentive, but only if the information they provided is not yet known of the control authorities.
At the meeting of the commission, the finance department was represented by Lyudmila Petkova, director of the “Tax Policy” directorate. According to her, the budget loses BGN 309 million from the 9% VAT on restaurateurs.
A week ago, during the presentation of the budget by Asen Vassilev, it became clear that GERB-SDS will not support it. The DPS, on the other hand, opposed some of the changes and demanded that the priority projects for each municipality be included in the plan-account. From the BSP, “Vazrazhdane” and ITN were categorical that they would not support the budget.
Otherwise, the parameters in it are 77.7 billion BGN revenues, 83.8 billion BGN expenditures, GDP of 205.8 billion BGN, GDP growth – 3.2%, average annual inflation of 4.8% and deficit – 3%.
