The draft budget is more of a report for a past period, and the rulers simply cheated the people with taxes, without making any of the promised reforms. This was stated in the program "Bulgaria, Europe and the World in Focus" on Radio FOCUS by the financial and economic analyst Assoc. Prof. Grigor Sariyski.
The discussion of the state budget for 2026 begins today in the relevant committee on budget and finance in the National Assembly. The budget plan, which was adopted by the Council of Ministers and submitted to the registry of the National Assembly, should come into force on August 1, the ruling party has requested.
According to Assoc. Prof. Sariyski, the new budget actually comes into force only from August, and during the first seven months of the year the country worked with the old budget plan.
"It is precisely thanks to all these parameters that were set in the revenues and expenditures of the consolidated fiscal program that the increase in the deficit, which is the subject of so much criticism," he explained.
The economist specified that in one year revenues increase by about 1 billion leva (mainly due to prices), but expenditures increase by two.
"Two to one, which means that your deficit simply increases thanks to the parameters that were set", he commented the analyst.
Regarding the expenditure part and the criticism of the increase in current expenses by one and a half billion leva, the economist pointed out that the lack of preliminary explanations in the texts has left a wide field for speculation.
"You cannot submit a document that is only 200 pages long in the main body, plus another 200 additional ones, and nowhere explain where the increase in current expenses by one and a half billion leva comes from. This has given room for very broad speculation on the subject. There was talk of expensive coffee, toilet paper, new limousines and so on, which turned out to be unfounded. The Minister of Finance came out only three days ago and started counting them with a pencil, pen by pen, but you cannot wait a few days, not sign anything in the consolidated fiscal program and finally say at the press conference that you are unfairly accused. This thing had to find a place on all these 400 pages", Assoc. Prof. Sariyski was categorical.
He added that with regard to the large capital program, which is nearly 9.3 billion leva, the main part comes from European funding due to the completion of the Recovery and Sustainability Plan (RSP). According to him, the state has no choice but to pay for these projects, unless it wants to give up the money.
"The problem, however, is that in the so-called "Annex 2" projects for only about 1.4 billion leva have been scheduled, and the rest of the money remains unclear," he said.
Criticism was also directed at the lack of real reforms and implementation of the election promises of the ruling party, especially in terms of the fight against tax evasion and the shadow economy.
"I saw absolutely nothing in this budget about the fight against tax evasion by these hoarders, also the erosion of the tax base and so on. Some of the sectors that are currently realizing excess profits - a huge part of the countries in the European Union tax them. In the UK, you have the so-called supercharge on the banking sector... There was no such request in this budget for the additional taxation of the so-called excess profits," the analyst pointed out.
According to him, citizens were misled regarding the tax burden:
"Now people have somehow been tricked, as there was no direct increase in the tax burden in percentages, but by touching the thresholds and so on, but in fact the greater tax burden will be paid by the mass of citizens. Ultimately, in 2027-2028, options will be sought for an effective increase in the tax burden. Such suggestions were made for real estate," he said.
The economist noted that the proposed changes to real estate penalize savers who buy second or third homes to save their money from negative real interest rates in banks, instead of the measures being tied to a reduction in rents. There is also a lack of resources for functional analyses that would lead to real cuts or restructuring of the state administration.