How politics works in social networks.
Several media outlets explode on Sunday with SHOCK! Bombshell! – ECB rejected the government's tax on the banking sector with sharp criticism!
For some reason, these otherwise diverse media conveniently miss the fact that they are commenting on a 2024 opinion of the European Central Bank, which has nothing to do with Bulgaria. This was noted on "Facebook" by Deputy Prime Minister Atanas Pekanov.
This opinion is indeed critical - it refers to the tax imposed on interest income of Spanish banks.
The ECB also had similar criticism of the way in which an excess profit tax was applied to the banking sector in Italy. In both Spain and Italy, the tax was implemented and nothing terrible happened at the macroeconomic level. The economy and financial sector of both countries continue to develop with good results. In Austria, the shares of the banking sector are reaching new and new historical highs, despite the imposed one-time increased solidarity tax to the budget in 2025.
The false claim that the ECB criticized the proposed tax by the Ministry of Finance (which is actually consistent and takes into account the bank's criticism of the design of the tax in Spain) was subsequently taken up by several anonymous troll Facebook pages.
According to their confused publications, after the bank tax, the government also came up with the introduction of progressive taxation. This has actually been a recommendation of international institutions such as the IMF for several years.
Unfortunately, this is how politics works today.