site.btaPodkrepa Confederation of Labour Supports Budget Bills Half-Heartedly

The Podkrepa Confederation of Labour will support in principle the bills on the 2025 state budget, the public social insurance budget and the health insurance budget and the revisions concerning the revenue side, with quite a few exceptions, just because Bulgaria needs a budget, the trade union amalgamation said in a press release on Tuesday.

Podkrepa sees a lack of relevant economic policies and no focus on economic sectors of priority importance in which Bulgaria is traditionally strong and which contribute to high growth and job creation. It calls for an analysis and a goal with regard to Bulgaria's place in the economy of the region and the European Union while taking account of incipient recession processes in and outside the bloc and keeping an eye on local circumstances, economic trends, and above all, the war conflicts and the instability in close proximity to the country.

The bills propose one-off measures which will have a temporary effect on public revenues. The forecast about the impact of a proposed tax amnesty seems too optimistic. At BGN 5.15 billion, the expected impact implies a tax basis of BGN 40 billion, the press release says.

Compared with earlier versions, it is noteworthy that the proposed legislation no longer seeks to establish a tax on banks' excess profits, to increase the tax on gambling operations and to impose a tax on harmful foods. It is unclear why these ideas were dropped and how their absence will be compensated, Podkrepa says.

The organization warns of a risk of failure to implement the revenue side of the budget, which it says will likely lead to a budgetary revision in 2025.

The proposed state budget and social and health insurance budgets are to be discussed at an extraordinary meeting of the National Council for Tripartite Cooperation on Wednesday, the government press service said.