Private tobacco producers will start protests, civil disobedience action and strikes if the government does not overturn the decision of the Finance Ministry to impose VAT on bonuses paid to them by the Agriculture State Fund (ASF), Association of Private Tobacco Producers in Bulgaria deputy chairman Veselin Todorov said. Later in the dayb Cabinet rejected Agriculture Minister Dikme’s suggestion for removing the Value Added Tax. The Finance Ministry justified VAT imposition by explaining that the state taxes premiums as subsidies.