20 April 2012 is the day when Bulgarians, figuratively speaking, stop working for the government and start working for themselves. This day is called Tax Freedom Day. In 2012 Bulgarians will need to work nearly four months only to pay their taxes and fees to the Government, thus reaching the budget’s revenue target for the year. In Bulgaria, this day traditionally is somewhere in May and its early appearance in the last 3-4 years is…
The interesting headline written above is not just a key topic of almost all today’s discussions about economics and economic policy but also the
Polish government began public consultation on the rise of the state pension age in February. It provoked a national debate about how long the Polish will work. There are numerous arguments for and against the reform. Some of them are just and other are demagogic. We should select them and consider issues which are important for us – future pensioners. It is essential because the reform is unavoidable and most members of the European Union…
It is good that an agreement concerning law regulating fiscal responsibilities is reached in our Parliament, involving whole political spectrum. It is great to put down the fire with common effort. It would be even better, however, if we agreed on reasons of this long fire of debt, who and how caused it. And one of the main reasons is the fact that politicans in many countries willingly listened to economic theories, whose implementation in…
After the general government deficit in Poland reached 7.8% GDP in 2010, at the beginning of 2011 Polish government presented a plan to reduce it to 3% GDP by 2012, a goal which is in line with Maastricht criteria.
There have been talks, for a few months now, about introducing new and stricter fiscal rules in European Union (EU) member-states, which would help reduce the fast piling up of public debt. During the last week of January there was, at last, a public debate about the position of Bulgaria on this issue. The debate was in the form of a round table organized by the Institute for Market Economics called “Fiscal Rules – Alternatives…
