Bulgarian Municipalities Want 20% of Personal Income Tax

The NAMRB head Dora Yankova has put forth the idea for letting the municipalities dispose with 20% of the personal income tax. Photo by BGNES

Bulgaria’s local authorities want to collect one-fifth of the personal income tax in order to have more funds available for their projects.

This suggesting has been made by the National Association of Municipalities in the Republic of Bulgaria (NAMRB) during the discussions of the draft 2010 State Budget by the Parliamentary Committees on Finance and Economic Policy.

“If one-fifth of the 10% personal income tax, which means 2% of the personal income, is transformed into a municipal tax, the municipalities will get BGN 400 M more which they can use to fulfill their obligations for maintaining infrastructure, carrying out expropriation procedures, and providing co-funding for local projects,” said Dora Yankova, Chair of NAMRB and Mayor of Smolyan.

In her words, this measure will help solve the problem with the emerging deficit of BGN 0,5 B in municipal budgets around the country in 2010.

When he was Sofia Mayor, Bulgaria’s Prime Minister Boyko Borisov suggested that 50% of the personal income tax must be collected by the municipal authorities.

Yankova has stated the actual percent (20%-50%) could vary depending on the size and characteristics of the respective municipality.

We need your support so Novinite.com can keep delivering news and information about Bulgaria! Thank you!