NGOs demand 1% of the revenues from personal income tax

One per cent of the government proceeds from personal income tax to be redistributed as subsidy for non-governmental organisations, this idea was put forward on Monday by representatives of NGOs during a round table discussion, hosted by Bulgarian News Agency.

Tomislav Donchev, Minister of EU Funds Management, and US Ambassador, H.E. James Warlick, who were to attend the event, were both unable to do so and were therefore represented by other officials. The planned discussion was preceded by a presentation of the 2011 NGO Sustainability Index, revealing alarming trends in Bulgaria. This is the 15^th edition of the research, conducted by the US Agency for International Development (USAID) in association with the Bulgarian Center for Not-For-Profit Law (BCNL). Under monitoring are 29 countries in Central and Eastern Europe and Eurasia, with index readings varying between 1 and 7 (higher numbers indicate an increasingly worse state of the NGO sector). Any result below 3 reflects high level of sustainability, between 3 and 5 – improving sustainability, and above 5 – troubled sustainability.

Interestingly enough, conditions in Bulgaria have gradually deteriorated since it joined the EU. While in 2007 the index was 3.1, in 2011 it was already 3.4. The research covers seven factors, including financial sustainability of NGOs, Bulgaria's weakest point. If the other six factors are excluded, the 2011 NGO Sustainability Index for the country would read 4.6. In contrast, the best element, law environment, received an evaluation of 2.2.

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