About 13 results were found.
The protests of dairy farmers and the decision the Government is about to take to provide them with additional funds once again showed how an organised group could be politically strong, even if their demands are against taxpayers' interests. One thing is certain: meeting the dairy farmers' demands will mean the European Commission imposing a financial sanction on Bulgaria that will be twice as much as the 60 million
Over the past few months, one question has not been avoidable in by Bulgarian society - Just how important is European Union funding for the Bulgarian economy? We could be more extreme in our assessment - do Bulgarians really need European taxpayers' money to develop their economy and increase living standards? Current research shows that there is no proof that funding can assist the economic growth of a
May 28 2008 15:08 CET
by Petar Kostadinov
May 29 is this year's "tax freedom day" for Bulgarian citizens, according to the Institute for Market Economics (IME). This will be the day when Bulgarians will stop working for the state and start working for themselves.
The 150 days from January1 through May 29 represents the time it will take Bulgarians as a whole to earn enough to pay off all of the taxes that will be levied against them this year.
In the middle of April, the Bulgarian media reported the emergence of a new social security policy idea. The idea, authored by the lead partner in the country's tripartite coalition, the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP), foresees a change in the formula for calculating pensions. Under the existing Social Security Code (SSC), the size of new pensions is calculated according to a formula that binds length of service, during which social security contributions were paid, and the size of average social security income to the individual social security income in the country.
After three years of delay, bureaucratic obstacles and impediments of all sorts (even a presidential veto of the draft bill), the commercial register in Bulgaria was successfully launched in January. Until last year, registering a company in Bulgaria was done in court. Business people faced substantial loss of money, time and effort in filling out and submitting required documents to various government bodies - among
In August 2007, there was a discussion in Bulgaria about the possibility of opening the State Reserve and supplying the market with wheat at a lower price than the market price. The realisation of this measure was deferred, for now, because it would need to be approved by the European Commission first. The so-called Intervention Agency, part of the Common Agricultural Policy of the European Union (EU), aims
The threat of not being able to master the money from EU structural and cohesion funds and from agricultural subsidies is one of the most discussed issues of the day in Bulgaria. Although Bulgaria joined the EU on January 1 2007, EU funding programmes, as well as the application process, have not started functioning yet. But in the first two months, the state made its mandatory contribution to the EU budget, to the
For the third time, the privatisation of Bulgartabak Holding, the Bulgarian state-owned tobacco company that comprises several cigarette-making plants and processing factories, has been brought to a halt. Unfortunately, that deprives the holding of brighter future prospects and serves as a bad signal to potential foreign investors. This time, the start of the privatisation procedure failed because of the
At the beginning of April, the Defence Ministry transferred its ownership share of Plovdiv and Gorna Oryahovitsa airports to the Transport Ministry. According to the official position of the resource ministries, this was the first step in the procedure of putting the two airports out on concession. Concession of the airports is listed as a priority in the long-term strategy for the development of Bulgaria's transport infrastructure
The accession of Bulgaria to the European Union has its pros and cons, but there is no doubt that the accession date has sent a positive signal to foreign observers and investors. As for the business sector in the country, there are certain channels through which it can gain from the country's membership. To be realistic, EU accession does not change the market conditions by magic, and money will not flood into local
The establishment took a characteristic turn "to the left" and backed out from the texts of the bill on medical products in human medicine.
The bill was already adopted at first reading last August, but its second reading debate was continuously delayed. The proposed bill provided for liberalisation of the procedure for establishing pharmacies and for allowing all traders (including legal entities), not only master
Oct 09 2006 09:00 CET
by Adriana Mladenova
One of the various aspects of Bulgaria joining the EU is the need for harmonisation of excise duties in Bulgaria with the tax regime of the European Union. This means that Bulgaria will have to introduce the minimum excise duties on certain goods by 2013 - tobacco products, alcoholic beverages, energy and petrol. This article reviews the impacts on the Bulgarian economy of the introduction of only one of the duties -
Sep 25 2006 09:00 CET
by Adriana Mladenova
With the end of the summer holidays and the date for the submission of Budget 2007 approaching, discussions and debate over the next year's tax rates have intensified. The first reading of changes to corporate and individual tax laws have already been approved by Parliament, but they do not provide the specific tax rates. The second reading of the bills should be approved by the end of October, and the revised tax
