site.btaIncumbents, Opposition Clash over Proposed Bulgaria-US Tax Compliance Agreement

Incumbents, Opposition Clash over Proposed Bulgaria-US Tax Compliance Agreement

Sofia, March 6 (BTA) - Socialist MP Roumen Gechev said on Friday
 that a proposed tax compliance agreement between the
governments of Bulgaria and the US is lopsided. The agreement
requires Bulgaria to provide information to the US about US
investments in this country exceeding 50,000 dollars, but the US
 is not required to provide information to Bulgaria about
Bulgarian investments across the Atlantic, Gechev said, speaking
 on behalf of the opposition.

The Bulgaria-US agreement to improve international tax
compliance and to implement FATCA, the Foreign Account Tax
Compliance Act adopted by the US Congress in 2010, was approved
by the Bulgarian government on February 4 and was moved to
Parliament for ratification. On March 5, it was considered by
the Budget and Finance Committee in Parliament. The meeting was
held behind closed doors because some provisions in the
agreement are classified as "top secret."

According to Gechev, the good news is that the US and the EU are
 making efforts to ensure the disclosure of bank information in
case of money laundering and tax evasion. "We understand the
concern and support the efforts of the US to obtain information
from Bulgaria," Gechev said, adding, however, that the proposed
agreement only goes one way.

Bulgaria's obligations arising from the future agreement imply
that the Bulgarian government should spend millions of leva to
collect and provide the information requested by the US, he
said. Unlike the other such agreements which the US has signed
with EU member states (including Germany, Britain, Denmark,
Ireland, Italy, Spain and France), the agreement with Bulgaria
is not reciprocal, he noted.

"There is no way we can agree that Bulgaria should incur
expenses in order to provide information without receiving
reciprocal information," Gechev said.

Reacting to the opposition's claims that the agreement is not
reciprocal and that some clauses in it were kept secret even
from the Budget and Finance Committee, Diyana Yordanova MP of
the ruling GERB party said that the agreement had actually been
negotiated by the government of Prime Minister Plamen Oresharski
 (May 2013 - August 2014) and the current government only
finalized the procedure in December 2014. The principle of
reciprocity had already been considered at the start of the
procedure under Prime Minister Oresharski, Yordanova said. She
described the opposition's claims as "yet another attempt by BSP
 to get into the media domain with its rather ridiculous
accusations."

Gechev, in turn, described Yordanova's explanation as "a brazen
lie." According to Gechev, the US suspended the negotiations for
 six months in anticipation of the new Bulgarian government's
arrival, and when the GERB party took over, it simply signed the
 agreement without even reading it, because it was obviously
enough for them to know that it was an agreement with the US.

He also noted that even though the Budget and Finance Committee
met behind closed doors, it could not get acquainted with the
secret clauses. Committee Chairwoman Menda Stoyanova allowed an
uninformed vote to be taken, Gechev said.

Yordanova said that when the agreement is considered by the full
 Parliament next week, the incumbents will propose that the
discussion take place behind closed doors again in order to
allow the lawmakers to get the answers they need.