The Bulgarian Association of Restaurants and the Society of Restaurants in Bulgaria made harsh accusations against the MPs for accepting an increase in the Value Added Tax /VAT/ for low-alcohol drinks. It will no longer be 9, but 20%. And this happened in the middle of the summer season.
„The economic team of Prime Minister-Economist Kiril Petkov has once again proved that he does not understand anything about economics. Or, if he understands, he doesn’t care about the people in this poor area trying to do business that feeds hundreds of thousands of families. We are openly working against entrepreneurs in Bulgaria, and this is a conclusion not only of our industry, but also of a number of other sectors. The actions of the government since it has been in power, suggest only an attempt to conquer territories and ruin businesses, which will then be taken over,„, the Bulgarian Association of Restaurants and the Society of Restaurants in Bulgaria said.
The Bulgarian Association of Restaurants and the Society of Restaurants in Bulgaria have repeatedly stated that they have no political bias or affiliations. Our only mission is to fight for justice in our industry. Today, however, we will allow ourselves to quote parties, because it is important who has what position.
The proposal to keep the VAT on low-alcohol beverages was submitted by GERB as an amendment to the Budget Update Act. The proposal was supported by GERB, MRF and “Vazrazhdane”. „We Continue the Change“, BSP and DB voted against (with the exception of 1 MP from „We Continue the Change“ and BSP), and ITN against and abstained, which in practice is against (again with the exception of 1 MP). Minister of Tourism Hristo Prodanov from the BSP, whose job should be to protect Bulgarian tourism, was not in the hall at all, the two organizations reminded. They added:
„Thus, the parties whose Council of Ministers still governs Bulgaria have adopted an“ anti-crisis „measure, which puts the sector most affected by the crisis in an even worse situation, and our colleagues from the nightclubs are left with virtually no support. In addition, the commission voted against compensating businesses for space electricity prices. If this remains the case, we will have significant inflation and Videnov’s winter will seem like a hot summer. Most likely, new elections and an election campaign are forthcoming. We will very carefully monitor who will practice how on the topic of Bulgarian tourism. And we will urge those who fire grenade launchers at him and not toboast, but to claim that it is their priority. Today it became clear who has what attitude to this extremely important sector of the Bulgarian economy.“
„Moreover, the reduction of VAT was tied to an increase in the maximum insurance threshold for our industry, which is still higher than the minimum wage, despite its increase. We held a series of meetings at which we tried to convince the political forces in the rightness of the measure of 9% VAT for soft drinks, its importance for the functioning of our industry and the positive effect it has on the economy. Who understood us – we saw today. Now we have no choice but to turn to the President of the Republic of Bulgaria Rumen Radev with an urgent request – to veto the gloomy increase in VAT for some of the products in our industry. Impose a veto, Mr. President! ”, the position of The Bulgarian Association of Restaurants and the Society of Restaurants in Bulgaria states.
