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This study analyzes the tax relief for fuels used in agricultural production in EU member states, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), and other countries. Primary attention is paid to the state aid for excise duty refund of the fuels used in agriculture in Bulgaria. Previous researches prove that fossil fuel subsidies are inefficient. According to UNDP research, for every dollar pledged to tackle the climate crisis for the world's poor, four dollars are spent on fossil fuel subsidies that keep the climate crisis alive. These circumstances require a different approach and a solid need to reform fossil fuel subsidies. The main goal of the research is to identify the possibilities for the practical application of alternative approaches for economic impact in different aspects based on research and analysis of the tax policy regarding the fuels used by agriculture. Reforming energy subsidies remains a major political challenge as societies and economies experience tensions from the Covid-19 pandemic. But the prospects for recovery after the crisis are inextricably linked to the proper alternative mechanisms, especially if subsidy reform is combined with a broader range of political and economic measures to create a more stable, secure, and sustainable agricultural sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Municipal waste management is one of the most complex flows to manage. It is usually delegated to local authorities and funded by the revenue from the municipal waste charge. The critical introduction of the polluter pays principle raises the question of how to reasonably set the municipal waste charge. It should be structured so that it generates sufficient revenue to cover the costs of waste management. At the same time, it should influence human behaviour to reduce waste even at the source. Achieving both at the same time requires a strong link to the tax base of the charge. The fairest one is linked to the amount of household waste. Such a link is necessary to incentivise taxpayers to effectively reduce and manage the waste generated. Bulgaria is among the countries that have postponed such a reform for many years, but it is now becoming inevitable. The main objective of this study is to assess and analyse the current financial instruments and tax legislation related to municipal waste management in the Republic of Bulgaria. The critical point is to evaluate the link between the tax base and the taxpayers' behaviour by setting the municipal waste charge in the Republic of Bulgaria. The methods of retrospective analysis and synthesis, inductive and deductive methods and comparative analysis are used to achieve the aims and objectives of the study. In Bulgaria, an unfair tax base has always been applied in determining the municipal waste charge. It depends not on the amount of waste but on the property's tax assessment. The fiscal policy in Bulgaria related to the municipal waste management needs to be updated to achieve the targets set in the Bulgarian National Waste Management Plan 2021-2028. The change should affect both the methodology of calculating the waste charge to apply the "polluter pays" principle and the system of tax preferences and reliefs to encourage the rational treatment of household waste, such as recycling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Covid 19 pandemic profoundly affected society's social and economic life. At the same time, it accelerated another long-delayed process. This is the need to modernise taxation. The European tax legislation in income taxation has stayed the same for a long time. To some extent, it is outdated. It does not correspond to the modern societal changes and the realisation of new types of income not covered by the law. Many European countries rely heavily on their income taxes on the budget's revenue side. The forecasts point to fewer and fewer opportunities to generate income due to the ageing working-age population. All these arguments determine the need for modernisation and gradual replacement of income taxes. The present study defends the thesis that a promising opportunity to compensate for the reduced revenues from income taxation is related to strengthening the environmental function of taxes. The possibility of limiting environmentally harmful substances such as pesticides through taxes has been analysed. This change the authors propose to achieve this in two ways. The first one requires eliminating differentiated reduced VAT rates for pesticides, plant protection materials and fertilisers unless the latter are organic. The second one proposes the possibility of introducing a tax on pesticides. Such a tax could limit their use as well as generate new revenue. In this regard, the experience of the few countries applying a pesticide tax is analysed. The various options for determining the tax base as a critical point in defining the tax are argued. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The government can use different ways to stimulate certain industries or categories of taxpayers. It can be achieved with direct payments and subsidies that increase the budget revenues. It is also possible to achieve this aim by reducing budget revenues by failing to collect some of them to be ceded to preferred groups of taxpayers. These are so-called tax expenditures. In Bulgaria, official statistics on their value and impact have been kept since 2007. Following the requirements of the EU, a national definition of the term tax expenditure is adopted in Bulgaria, which should correspond to the specifics of our tax system. Despite the relatively small share of the tax expenditures - about 2% of total tax revenues in Bulgaria, their values are subject to continuous analysis and control of their effectiveness. The lower it is, the state fails to collect additional revenues without generating benefits for the economy. At the same time, how our tax policy can use them to stimulate an industry such as agriculture, where employment is still quite high, is a priority of this study. The purpose of this article is to assess and analyze the tax expenditures applicable for agriculture in Bulgaria. Modern approaches and methods such as the method of analysis and synthesis have been used in solving the research tasks and achieving the main goal in the research; inductive and deductive methods, comparative methods, and logical description. Continuous analysis and assessment of each tax preference and relief are necessary to be made to establish their effectiveness. This also concerns tax expenditures. If they are ineffective, the state simply fails to collect additional budget revenues without creating benefits for society and the economy The tax legislation in Bulgaria provides for the application of a small number of tax revenues due to its broad tax base and low tax rates. However, a significant part of them is intended for agriculture. It can be concluded that along with tourism, agriculture enjoys the most tax reliefs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Various factors in grape processing are influencing terpene content in wines and base wine for distillation. The choice of an appropriate regime for Muscat wine distillate production is very important. Flavour perception, olfactory and gustatory, is most often given precedence when assessing the quality of Muscat wines and distillates, as the aroma of Muscat grape varieties is a legitimizing factor of primary importance in terms of quality. In the production of Muscat wines, it is necessary to regulate the temperature of alcoholic fermentation to values of 14-16°? in order to obtain a high quality organoleptic profile. In the present research, in the production of Muscat wine distillate, an alcoholic fermentation regime has been applied without temperature control and in combination with a pectolytic enzyme preparation. The aim is to assess the impact of the proposed regime on the quantity and quality of the terpenes in the obtained distillates compared to low-temperature fermentation regime. The following have been found: accelerated extraction of bound terpenes in base wine without regulating the fermentation temperature and in combination with a pectolytic enzyme preparation; increased concentration of monoterpenes in Muscat distillates by 40 and 79% under accelerated extraction conditions. Practical applications: this study contributes to choose an appropriate regime for production of high quality Muscat wine distillate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Agricultural sector has its own specificities that are a prerequisite for lower and unstable incomes compared to other sectors of the economy The taxation of the agricultural incomes has a specificity for Bulgaria as well as for other European countries. This article analyzes the two different approaches in the tax policies of selected European countries and Bulgaria for reducing tax burden of the farmers. The aim of the current investigation is to compare taxation and to outline the common features and differences in the taxation of the farmer natural person in the different countries. The tax legislation in most European countries including Bulgaria provides specific regulation of agriculture income in order to relieve the tax burden or bookkeeping. We conclude that the tax instruments and reliefs are an effective prerequisite for reducing the huge gap in income levels from agriculture compared to those of other sectors of the economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]