Sofia echo Thu, Oct 15 2009

The Bulgarian government gave the green light to a proposal to raise the maximum property tax rate from 0.2 per cent to 0.25 per cent of the property appraisal.

Furthermore, the property transaction tax cap rises from 2.6 per cent to three per cent, but this may not entail higher payments as they are set by city councils, which are concerned such a step might drag down collection. In addition, the threshold for properties exempt from taxation will be lowered to a property appraisal of 1680 leva from the current 2520 leva.

The aim is to pump up revenue of small municipalities where appraisals are low and many property owners pay no property taxes.

The government also approved a plan to introduce identical tax rates for all gambling games. Thus, the state lottery and private fixed-odds sports betting bookmaker Eurofootball will pay 12 per cent instead of 10 per cent of their betting turnover. Finance minister Simeon Dyankov said the Cabinet has not discussed a possible increase in road taxes for next year.