The Ministry of Healthcare and its highly active Minister Petar Moskov along with his colleague from the Ministry of Sports Krasen Kralev seem to think they have found a radical decision for the healthcare problems of the Bulgarians - those shall be influenced to reject the consumption of unhealthy and harmful food with too much salt, sugar, fats and caffeine content via the introduction of a new tax. The public reactions are numerous, harsh and diverse, as the measure will affect most Bulgarian families – due to the significant increase in junk food’s prices that is expected. Those will see new taxes, varying between 3 and 78 percent. Though not being recommended by doctors due to the bad consequences on human health, these foods enjoy lots of customers who either prefer them or are driven to eat them by their living standard. Minister Moskov himself claims that the measure aims at not only the economic, but also the preventive effect. Not only the improvement of the population’s health is expected, i.e. lower healthcare expenses, but also additional some EUR 75 million in the budget per year. The money would go to the construction of sports facilities with schools and universities, creating better conditions for a healthier lifestyle. Of course, the business is not happy, as the higher prices will shrink the incomes of producers and traders. At the same time business circles underline that those foods are the most preferred among the poorer social layers and that will only worsen additionally their feeding style and quality of life. The business also warns on the cut of job positions, thus adding to unemployment and poverty – and nearly 50 percent of the Bulgarians live in poverty.

Both sides in this argument seem to have good reasons, but in fact there is a lot of populism and hypocrisy involved. Lobbying interests can be seen beside the business’ good intentions. Many see demagogy and reform imitation behind the nice governmental intentions.

Of course, such a measure will see some effects, but those will barely be the expected ones. These additional EUR 75 million on a healthy lifestyle are just a drop in the sea, as we all know that the officially spared EUR 1.6 billion of budget money per year are not enough. However, the business will be much more affected, as a 30 percent drop of consumption is expected which means a collapse for some businesses. Job cuts are inevitable and those people will go to junk food right away due to their lowered income. It is a vicious circle with no exit out of it discovered worldwide.

The new draft tax is so contradictory that both its final judge Finance Minister Vladislav Goranov and Social Minister Ivaylo Kalfin have been quite cautious about any statements on it so far. Its initiator – Healthcare Minister Moskov himself admitted the start of an uneasy battle. The delicate issue might even reach the National Trilateral Cooperation Council of the government, the employers and the trade unions, with its final and decisive word waited for.

English version: Zhivko Stanchev