保加利亚将采用新的网上赌博税率(2)

　　译文：

　　BULGARIA TO ADOPT NEW ONLINE GAMBLING TAX RATES

　　The Finance Minister of Bulgaria has just announced that he plans to implement a new online gambling taxation regime in the country. Bulgaria already has extremely large gambling taxes.

　　Bulgarian Finance Minister Simeon Djankov commented recently that he intends to increase taxes in various fields in Bulgaria such as banking, bank deposits, stock exchanges but also gambling and online gambling. The Minister would like to see the same tax rate employed in all fields of business.

　　In an interview to a local radio station, the Minister has explained that he would like to see the new taxation regime implemented as early as January 2013. On the other hand, he has not specified the levels of the taxation increase.

　　Finance Minister Djankov explained the need for higher taxes with the country's desperate need of money. Bulgaria has still not recovered at all from the recent financial crisis and is in need of money in order to drive the economy and prevent the administration from going bankrupt.

　　Higher taxes on online gambling, however, would most likely not achieve the desired results of generating more money. Quite the contrary, due to even higher taxes, online gambling operators might be determined to leave the market altogether.

　　Bulgaria has legalized online gambling this March. At the same time it has imposed an extremely large turnover tax rate of 15% on online gambling operators. After legalizing online gambling, the country has also ordered national ISP's to block citizens' access to unlicensed operators.

　　An even larger tax would most certainly determine international operators that at this moment are licensed in Bulgaria to leave the market. Bulgaria is a low-income country and not necessarily a prime target for gambling operators. Higher taxes could kill all profits of operators licensed in the country.

　　The prospect of higher taxes in any domain is a sensitive subject in Bulgaria. It's widely believed that new increases in taxes would determine widespread public protests in the country. When asked about the likelihood of large protests, Finance Minister Djankov replied with "let them come".