Bulgaria FinMin Downplays Fiscal Benefit of 'Junk Food' Tax Bill

Politicians should be wary of attempts to manipulate the market or direct consumer behavior to one or another kind of goods, Bulgaria's Finance Minister Vladislav Goranov has said.

His comments follow an announcement earlier this week by the country's health and sports ministers, Petar Moskov and Krasen Kralev, that the new legislation had been drafted that would levy a number of products carrying risks to health to both discourage consumers from using certain substances and incite businesses to improve the quality of their products.

Moskov then also said the new tax, if approved, would bring in millions in revenues that would be used in education, sports, and healthcare.

But Goranov told journalists on Thursday the bill would not increase the flow of money into the treasury.

Adding he hadn't made himself familiar with the text yet, he said: "If [no revenues] are collected from this law, that would be a good story... meaning it achieved its goal, throwing out of the market what is considered to be harmful according to medicine standards."