INTER-JURISDICTIONAL TAX COMPETITION – THE BULGARIAN CASE

Abstract

The paper highlights the specific features of interjurisdictional tax competition, and the related positive effects and risks. It analyzes the tax policy of the Bulgarian local authorities and discusses the factors limiting the inter-jurisdictional tax competition in our country. On the basis of specific data on the dynamics of the rates of key local taxes, it is argued that there is lack of a targeted policy of attracting and retaining a tax base through the manipulation of tax rates. It is concluded that the tax rates of the local taxes in Bulgaria are most often at the average of the legally defined upper and lower limits. It is supported that the low value of the ratio Revenues and aids in the municipal budgets / GDP does not motivate entrepreneurs to invest in a particular jurisdiction because of the differences in the absolute amount of local taxes.