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  • Lyudmil Naydenov, Dimitar Tsenov
    COVID-19 EFFECTS ON TAX GAPS
    JEL: H12, Í61, Í68
    Keywords: consolidated fiscal programme, tax gaps, COVID-19, fiscal revenue.
    Summary: The paper examines the issues related to the impact of COVID-19 on tax gaps in Bulgaria. The authors define the various tax gaps in terms of their theoretical, practical and technical grounds as well as unique characteristics. The authors have analysed the dynamics of the gap between the tax and social insurance revenues in the Consolidated Fiscal Program (CFP) as they “should be” collected and as they “are” collected and prove that it was affected directly by the global COVID-19 pandemic. They justify the need for an innovative approach that would take into account the changed realities and the important role of CFP components for improving the public welfare and the sustainability of our economy. The research subject are tax gaps and its object is the impact of COVID-19 on the difference between the volume of collected and planned revenues from direct taxes, indirect taxes, social security and health insurance contributions in Bulgaria. The general conclusion is that the pandemic, which has lasted for already over a year, has slowed down the economy and hence has a negative affect on tax gaps in our country.
  • Lyudmil Naydenov
    Inter-Jurisdictional Tax Competition – the Bulgarian Case
    JEL: H71, H72
    Keywords: inter-jurisdictional tax competition, local revenues, local taxes, fiscal decentralization
    Summary: The paper highlights the specific features of inter-jurisdictional tax competition, and the related positive effects and risks. It analyzes the tax policy of the Bulgarian local authorities and discusses the factors limiting the inter-jurisdictional tax competition in our country. On the basis of specific data on the dynamics of the rates of key local taxes, it is argued that there is lack of a targeted policy of attracting and retaining a tax base through the manipulation of tax rates. It is concluded that the tax rates of the local taxes in Bulgaria are most often at the average of the legally defined upper and lower limits. It is supported that the low value of the ratio Revenues and aids in the municipal budgets / GDP does not motivate entrepreneurs to invest in a particular jurisdiction because of the differences in the absolute amount of local taxes.