Bulgaria Introduces Flat 9% Value-Added Tax in Tourism April 2011
The ruling majority in Bulgaria's Parliament has voted down a proposal for a several-month delay in the introduction of a flat 9% value-added tax (VAT) in the tourism sector.
Bulgaria will introduce a flat 9% value-added tax (VAT) in the tourism sector as of the beginning of April this year under amendments that Parliament adopted conclusively on Wednesday.
The right-wing Blue Coalition had insisted that the flat rate be introduced as of October after the summer season, saying that in times of crisis the sectors are very sensitive to tax hikes.
"The increase in the VAT tax for the tourism sector will rake in additional revenues just enough to fund two or three governmental visits abroad," the leader of the coalition Martin Dimitrov said from the parliamentary rostrum.
He argued that the European Commission has not threatened with sanctions Bulgaria's government unless it introduces a flat 9% value-added tax (VAT) in the tourism sector next year.
"There is nothing that makes the change in the VAT rate for the tourism sector that urgent, there is no deadline that the European Commission has set," he said.