site.bta "2017 Budget as Adopted Is Only Possible One at this Point" - Trade Union Leader

"2017 Budget as Adopted Is Only Possible One at this Point" - Trade Union Leader

Veliko Turnovo, North Central Bulgaria, December 1 (BTA) - "The 2017 budget as adopted is the only possible one at this point, but it will definitely be updated in the middle of the year," Confederation of Independent Trade Unions in Bulgaria (CITUB) President Plamen Dimitrov commented to journalists at the BTA Press Club in Veliko Turnovo on Thursday. In his opinion, the budget is not good but is better than the one for 2016 because more money for expenditures is allocated in the amount of 3,600 million leva, and the revenues set are by 2,250 million leva more than last year.

Dimitrov pointed out that in the consultations with his Confederation before the adoption of the budget, the parliamentary groups presented stands which rather looked like part of their election campaigns.

The trade union leader predicted adjustments in four parts of the finalized budget: for the staff of social care homes, where salaries must go up by some 25 per cent, for school and pre-school health care, where the rise is zero, for those employed in scientific research, and for an increase of the minimum unemployment benefit.

Dimitrov expects protests among scientists even in the coming days because expectations there exceeded the amounts approved in the budget.

He noted the need of a new budgeting philosophy based on a revised tax policy. "Tax policy is murderously unfair, not only in the part on the flat tax but also because three-quarters of tax revenues come from indirect taxes, which places the heaviest burden on the poor," the CITUB President argued.

In support, he pointed out that the profit of the banking sector for January-October 2016 reached 1,200 million leva, but there are no such profits in the economy and the real sector, to judge from the taxes they pay.

In his opinion, a rebalancing of taxation will lead to a fairer distribution among the principal budget-financed systems, like security, social policy, labour market and economy.