site.btaGERB Refutes All of President's Four Arguments for Vetoing Corporate Income Tax Act Amendments

104 POLITICS - LEGISLATION - CORPORATE INCOME TAX

GERB Refutes All of President's
Four Arguments for Vetoing
Corporate Income Tax Act Amendments


Sofia, November 14 (BTA) - The ruling GERB party does not accept any of the four arguments for President Rumen Radev's veto of amendments to the Corporate Income Tax Act, National Assembly Budget and Finance Committee Chair Menda Stoyanova told journalists on Tuesday evening.

One of the President's four arguments is that a higher tax will not encourage the replacement of older cars with new ones and will not produce the desired environmental effect. Another point Radev has made is that the postponement of the household waste billing reform is unfounded. He also disagrees with the increase of taxes on immovable properties in resort towns and objects to the structural adjustments at the Customs Agency.

Noting that she had read only a summary of the President's reasoning for the veto, Stoyanova said that GERB had repeatedly explained the intended introduction of an eco component into the vehicle tax.

Stoyanova was surprised that the President objected to the postponement of the household waste billing reform. GERB are concerned that the reform would put a heavier burden on households while relieving businesses. Besides that, the reform implies burdening the administration and assigning municipalities the difficult task to determine the correct number of people residing at a given address, which is important for setting the waste collection charges. The task will be much easier after a population census which will produce data that will be automatically processed and made available to the municipalities. If the reform is implemented now, it will strain millions of individuals while benefiting the corporate community, without making necessary preparations.

Concerning the structural changes at the Customs Agency, the idea has been to reform the customs system after the example of the National Revenue Agency. Stoyanova wondered why the President finds this unconstitutional, because this is what a veto really means: it implies unconstitutionality of the challenged provisions.

Stoyanova agrees with President Radev that the veto cannot delay the approval of the 2019 State Budget Act. The veto will reach the debating chamber next week, while the state budget will not be debated until the end of November. There is enough time to adopt the Corporate Income Tax Act in its final version before the State Budget Act is adopted conclusively, Stoyanova said. LI/VE
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