TAX NEWS - June 2010

Bulgaria Tax: Bulgaria Ex Finance Minister Disparages Direct Tax Hike

Former Bulgarian Finance Minister, Milen Velchev, opposes increasing direct taxes because it would lead to wide-spread tax evasion.

Former Bulgarian Finance Minister, Milen Velchev, believes to raise direct taxes would be a wrong decision.

Velchev spoke in an interview for Darik radio Saturday, saying the move would only lead to a reduction of collected revenues.

The ex Finance Minister from the cabinet of former Tsar and Prime Minister, Simeon Saxe-Coburg's party National Movement for Stability and Prosperity (NMSP), further explained direct taxes are easiest to hide while the indirect ones such as the Value Added Tax (VAT) and excise are harder to evade.

The comments came as response to the report of the Member of the Parliament from the ruling GERB party, Menda Stoyanova, that a possible increase of direct taxes will be discussed in the fall.

Velchev further said annulling the contract with the UK Crown Agents was needed since in the last year, the cabinet of the center-right Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria (GERB) never considered any of their recommendations.