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CONCLUSIONS
There is now a sufficiently broad legislation framework in
Bulgaria for the economic activity of the private sector. Its
development will above all be closely related with the
privatization process, as private business still does not have the
means of production concentrated in the state-owned enterprises.
The possibilities for participation of private business in
privatization have been provided for by the Law on the
Transformation and Privatization of State-Owned and Municipal
Enterprises.
A number of areas, however - taxation, the securities market,
stock-exchanges, trade transactions, collaterals, land registries -
are either subject to outdated, or no legislative regulation at
all. Furthermore, even in the presence of modern legislation, the
institutions authorized to enact it - administrative or court
authorities - fail to operate efficiently. Those are the chief
obstacles to the full-scale unfolding of private enterprise.
Our economic legislation still leaves a lot to be desired with
respect to the private sector. An updated regulation of trade
transactions would boost economic activity and would likewise
contribute to a greater stability of the relations between the
commercial entities. A number of laws still include provisions that
tend to keep up certain contradictions between the public and the
private sector. It is necessary to remove the ambiguity and lack of
"transparence" in the legal framework.
Concerning the tax system, the principle should be upheld for
all taxes to be established only by laws and for the provisions to
be optimally clear and exhaustive, so as to avoid any conflicting
interpretations in the process of their enactment. There should be
internal consistency and conformity among the tax laws if they are
to form a unified tax system. The legislation should be
characterized by stability and continuity in order to allow
taxpayers to make long-term economic development plans without
facing constant uncertainty of their financial relations with the
state. Tax concessions for the private sector ought to be equal for
all entities - regardless of the particular legal status or the
share of state or private capital.
Sofia
December 15, 1994
Valentin Georgiev
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