The great thing about Bulgaria is that the government doesn’t intervene in much of the life of the average working-class citizen. Institutions are weak and ineffective, and as long as you don’t claim any benefits from the state, they will not bother you for much. Personal income tax is not as strictly collected as it is in the West, few people are serious about it, the government is aware and they just don’t put the effort to fix it. Many self-employed service workers like plumbers and home repair guys are officially unemployed and do not declare a penny of income. The bureaucratic burden for companies however can be off-putting and that keeps many individuals in the gray sector.