Bulgaria to increase price of road tax stickers to 97 leva a year from 2016
The price of Bulgarian annual road tax stickers for light vehicles will increase from its current 67 leva to 97 leva (from about 34 euro to about 49 euro) as of January 1 2016, the government media service said on November 11.
The Cabinet decision followed a statement in September by Transport Minister Ivailo Moskovski that the annual price of road tax stickers, called vignettes in Bulgaria, would have to rise because they had not increased since 2008.
The price of vignettes for lorries, buses and vans also will go up, but details have not been announced.
Regional Development Minister Liliyana Pavlova has said that revenue from road tax stickers should at least double to be able to pay for road maintenance. Currently, annual revenue from vignettes in Bulgaria is about 200 million leva.
A World Bank report has said that at least a billion leva is needed to invest in Bulgaria’s road network to maintain it in normal condition.
Finance Minister Vladislav Goranov said in recent days that the annual price of 67 leva was unrealistically low to maintain the 30 000km national road network.
Failing to display a valid vignette on a motor vehicle means a fine of 300 leva, in the case of light motor vehicles, up to 3000 leva depending on the category of the vehicle.
Apart from annual vignettes, ones valid for a week or a month are also sold.
