Structural Changes in the Tax Revenue in Bulgaria During 2003-2014

In order for government and society to be in­formed about the way taxes and the revenue they bring are changing over time we need appropriate measurement tools. The article is an applica­tion of one of the structural approaches designed to examine the change in government’s revenue associated with the major taxes. The category of the major taxes accounts for most of the govern­ment’s revenues and includes the value added tax, the excise tax, the personnel income tax and the corporate tax. The analysis covers the period from 2003 to 2014, focusing on the distribution and change in the tax revenues. A point of interest is how the introduction of the proportional direct income tax affected total tax revenues and the ratio between the two. In order to capture this effect, the timeframe of the investigation is divided in two sub-periods – before and after accession of Bulgaria to the European Union, since this closely matches the introduction of the proportional income tax. For that reason, it becomes important to check whether the restructuring in the tax revenues was bigger before or after our accession to the EU.