MP Atidzhe Alieva-Veli has formally called for the rules on home-made rakia to be scrapped from the draft changes to the Excise Duties and Tax Warehouses Act, the MRF's press office says.
She filed her statement on the day of the public consultation on the draft, saying the proposals are absurd. Checks should target trade in the drink, she says, and only rule-breakers should face fines.
"Bulgarians struggle and grow poorer every day because of high fuel prices," Alieva-Veli said in the statement. If the government does not tackle the real problems, she added, people are asking "what will be banned and fined next – pickled cabbage, maybe?"
The cost of goods and services is already a heavy burden on households, she says, and now the government has gone after home-made rakia. Smugglers should not be treated the same as someone who pours a home-made rakia for a friend or relative, she argues. If the problem is illegal trade, she said, checks should focus on that.
The day before she filed the statement, many people had contacted her about the issue.
A day earlier, deputy prime minister and finance minister Galab Donev said no home rakia producer would be fined and that penalties are meant only for those who sell it. Rakia made in so-called village stills gets a lower excise rate and cannot be sold commercially, he explained.