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Miners take to the streets to protest against new 15% mining tax

Photo: BTA

Hundreds of miners protested outside the Council of Ministers while an extraordinary meeting of the National Council for Tripartite Cooperation was held inside. The protest is against the planned 15% tax on underground resources from 2025, a tax that has no precedent anywhere in Europe, informs BNR reporter Rumyana Vassileva. 

It was organised by the Federation of Independent Miners' Unions of the Confederation of Independent Trade Unions (CITUB) and the Miners' Federation of the Podkrepa trade union. The miners fear that the tax will lead to mine closures and make their business uncompetitive with other European countries.
"This additional tax will lead to the liquidation of a large number of companies in the mining industry and ultimately to the liquidation of the mining sector, which accounts for 4-5% of GDP each year," said Valentin Valchev, President of the Miners' Federation of CITUB. The caretaker government has intervened in this sector of our economy, but it has abandoned its intention to collect excess profits from the banks, as was made clear today at the Tripartite Council. 



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