Bulgarians will work to pay their taxes until May 4, 2011, according to a publication of the Institute for Market Economy.

The so-called "Tax Freedom Day" is a symbolic date when employees stop working for the State treasury and begin earning for themselves.

In Bulgaria, this day traditionally falls in May, and its earlier arrival in the last three years is attributed to the economic crisis and the wider budget gap i.e. the State seemingly takes less, but continues to spent as before by using reserves and accumulating new debts, the Institute's experts say.

The symbolic calculations further show that from May 4 until May 13, Bulgarian tax payers will continue to work for the State, to cover the budget deficit for 2011 and these 10 days will end up being for the benefit of the treasury, sooner or later, next year, or even in several years, depending on the ending percentage of the budget deficit for 2011.

In 2011, Bulgarians will earn about BGN 211 M a day on average, meaning they need 124 days in order to make the BGN 26.2 B in revenues slated for the budget,

What the State plans to take from workers amounts to more than 60% of households' income for 2010. In 2011, Bulgarians will work 31 days for the Value Added Tax (VAT), 10 days for excise duties, 19 days for social security benefits, 10 - days for health insurance, 10 days for income taxes, 8 for corporate taxes, and 3 for property taxes.

The Institute's experts further point out that the focus on bringing more revenues in the treasury gives a false impression of more freedom while revenues from VAT and excises have suffered a great deal from the crisis.