site.btaUPDATED Parliament to Burn the Midnight Oil to Adopt 2023 State Budget Bill

Parliament will likely burn the midnight oil Thursday as it decided to work for as long as it takes to adopt the 2023 state budget bill in its entirety. The MPs backed a motion to that effect by the budget committee chair, Yordan Tsonev (Movement for Rights and Freedoms, MRF). 

On Tsonev’s proposal, the voting started with the final and transitional provisions, which concern changes to the tax laws and then returned to the macroeconomic framework with the revenues and expenditures.

Here is what the MPs decided thus far:

Monthly wages in companies with over 100 staff will be paid by bank only. That will be enacted via revisions in a law for restricting cash payments, that were voted 125-42 votes with 16 abstentions. The “for” votes came from GERB-UDF, Continue the Change – Democratic Bulgaria (CC-DB) and MRF. Vazrazhdane and There Is Such a People were against that, and the Socialists abstained. 

Finance Minister Assen Vassilev said that the aim is to lighten up the economy – not to make life harder for workers, especially those with small wages. The association of banks has promised to scrap the fees for basic bank account and for withdrawal of the equivalent of the minimum wage. Also, all post offices will set up ATMs where people can withdraw cash fee-free. 

Later on Thursday, Parliament voted texts in the 2023 state budget bill which amended the Payment Services and Payment Systems Act, thus scrapping the fees for services for and withdrawal of cash from basic bank accounts, into which one's wages are paid.

The Electricity System Security Fund will collect the proceeds from taxing the excessive profits of electricity producers. The money can then be used for compensations to businesses in the event the price of electricity goes above BGN 200/MWh. The Finance Minister explained that this provision applies to private companies only as state—owned power producers make contributions to the Electricity System Security Fund on ministerial order and don’t need a law to regulate that. The proposal was backed by GERB, CC-DB, MRF and BSP. Vazrazhdane, TISP and four GERB deputies voted against. 

Parliament decided through amendments to the Value Added Tax Act, that  VAT-registered companies shall be required to report the cash in their cash registers on a quarterly basis where it exceeds BGN 50,000.

The majority rejected the Finance Minister's idea that a restaurant client may choose not to pay their bill if they don’t get a receipt. The MPs also rejected a proposal by There Is Such a People that the VAT for the catering business be raised back to 20% from the current 9%.

Parliament voted to raise the excise duty on e-cigarette liquid, with or without nicotine, from BGN 0.18 to BGN 0.30/ml from August 1, 2023.  

At 22:00 hrs on Thursday, the debates and voting on the budget bill were still in progress and nowhere nearing completion.