site.btaMRF - New Beginning's Proposal for Zero VAT Rate on Bread Turned Down

The Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF) - New Beginning said the nascent ruling majority of GERB-UDF, the Bulgarian Socialist Party and There Is Such a People (TISP) turned down as unacceptable the group's proposal for a permanent 0% VAT rate on bread and flour and 9% VAT on restaurant services at Tuesday's sitting of the parliamentary Budget and Finance Committee.

The press centre of the MRF - New Beginning cited Deputy Floor Leader Jordan Tzonev as saying the future government majority decided that the Budget Committee cannot deal with the price of the Bulgarians' bread and turned down the proposal without consideration. He told reporters: "Now you can see why [Floor Leader Delyan] Peevski called the thing that will be born 'unsavoury'."

Tzonev also said his parliamentary group had proposed a permanent zero VAT rate on bread and flour because their prices soared in the first days of January.

The VAT rate on bread and flour returned to 20% from January 2025. It had been reduced to 0% in July 2022 because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The MRF - New Beginning will insist that the National Assembly address the issue of the VAT rate on bread later in January.

On January 7, the Budget and Finance Committee rejected amendments to the VAT Act submitted by BSP - United Left. Caretaker Finance Minister Lyudmila Petkova said at the time that if the rate was reduced to zero, the state budget would see some BGN 97 million less in revenue.

Another proposal by the MRF - New Beginning - to compensate businesses for the spike in electricity prices - was backed by the Budget Committee on Tuesday. The parliamentary group commented that it had made this commitment so as to save jobs and the competitiveness of Bulgarian businesses.