site.btaProposed Tax Legislation "Provides for Increasing Compliance"

Proposed amendments to tax laws provide for measures to increase tax compliance, Finance Minister Assen Vassilev told journalists in the National Assembly on Friday. He said such measures are necessary because, according to all sources, the share of the informal economy in Bulgaria is about 30%. Vassilev had a hearing in the legislature about municipal projects seeking state budget funding.

Earlier on Friday, the National Assembly approved changes to tax legislation on first reading. Vassilev was adamant that the proposed revisions are most advantageous and asked the MPs to approve them.

The finance minister explained that the government's philosophy since last year has been "to ensure that taxes are collected rather than keeping the tax rates unchanged". In fact, the only suggested increase of a tax rate is in the case of companies with a turnover of more than EUR 750 million, which comes from an EU directive. "All other tax rates remain unchanged," he added.

Asked why he was not in the National Assembly during the first-reading debate on the tax laws, Vassilev said he was with the Council of Ministers working on the 2024 State Budget Bill. Taking a question about whether his CC-DB coalition, their partners GERB-UDF and the pro-government MRF have sorted out their differences about the proposed state budget, he said the budget has been drafted in a way that ensures utmost transparency of the capital expenditures of both the municipalities and the central government.

He went on to comment: "This level of transparency is very wholesome, I think, because it allows the competent committees to do their job and assess the appropriateness of the expenditures. It will create a wholesome environment for discussing the budget as there will be nothing hidden, and parliament will have the final say about the nation's capital programme."