AOBE OBJECTS TO THE INTENTION TO INTRODUCE AN EXCESS PROFITS TAX

The Association of the Organizations of Bulgarian Employers (AOBE) sent a letter to the Prime Minister Galab Donev and the Minister of Finance Rositsa Velkova regarding the Draft Law on Amendments and Supplements to the Tax Insurance and Procedural Code and the introduction of the so-called excess profits tax.

The Bulgarian business, united in AOBE, is very disturbed by the draft Law published on the website of the Ministry of Finance. It proposes amendments and new regimes, through which it is expected to generate additional revenues in the state budget for 2023, to increase the collection of revenues from existing sources and to cancel part of the fiscal reliefs of a temporary nature introduced in previous years budget years. In our opinion, the changes allow for the deprivation of income from successful Bulgarian enterprises without any legal and economic basis through the introduction of the so-called "excess profit" tax.

Such proposals increase unpredictability, send a negative signal to local and foreign investors and are a prerequisite for worsening the conditions of the business environment in our country. It would be a return to the old and vicious practices of years ago to create a means of robbing the most successful businesses in the state by forcible entry into the businesses. We will also provide an informed opportunity to the criminal sector for its criminal activity.

In connection with the above reasons, we believe that the Ministry of Finance should immediately withdraw the inadmissible proposal made in § 32 "In the Law on Corporate Taxation" of the transitional and final provisions of the draft Law on Amendments and Supplements to the Tax Code.