The chairwoman of the civic platform Stand Up.BG Maya Manolova proposes a tax on the "excess profits" of sectors that realize cyclical excess profits - banks, retail chains, mobile operators, arms dealers, pharmaceuticals, insurance companies and others. The tax should be 33% on the excess profits of these sectors or on profits over 20% higher than the average profit for the previous 4 years. She suggested this in a post on social networks.
She recalled that she had made such a proposal to parliamentary groups when considering the budget at the beginning of the year.
„The profits of the banking sector are huge - over the last 4 years, banks have increased their profits by 454% (from 815 million in 2020 to 3695 million in 2024). This is not due to an explosion of economic activity or a sharp increase in the wealth of people, because over the same period, the country's GDP increased by 71%, and the minimum wage by 76%, or 6 times slower. The reason for the huge growth in profits is predatory practices on the backs of people.“ – Manolova pointed out.
She defined the idea launched by the new chairman of the fiscal council Simeon Dyankov for the introduction of “taxes on excess profits and unexpected revenues“ as “unexpected support“ and according to her, a tax on excess profits of banks would be “fair“, but also “long overdue“.
In her words, instead of the government proposing an increase in social security contributions in the medium-term budget forecast by 1% (for 611 million leva additional revenues), the excess profits of banks and other sectors that realize cyclical excess profits should be taxed. According to calculations by Izprav se.BG, a 33% tax on excess profits for banks alone would provide nearly 500 million leva. in the treasury, and by taxing the other sectors with cyclical excess profits, even higher revenues will be ensured.
Maya Manolova also called for the introduction of a ceiling on bank fees, which is part of the measures to protect citizens, proposed in the “Anti-speculation” law, which Izprav se.BG proposed a week ago.
„Moreover, in 2025. banks' profits are soaring, with the growth from fees alone being over 10%. As they continue to increase bank fees - once at the beginning of the year and a second time since July. In the draft law “Anti-speculation” prepared by us, we also propose a limit on bank fees to their average amount for last year - officially announced by the BNB.“ – – the former ombudsman concluded. to live by adding, rearranging, and deleting content blocks.