Ministry of Finance hosts experts meeting with representatives of seven Ukrainian cities on draft tax reform

On November 5, the leading officials of the Ministry of Finance hosted a meeting with representatives of the public devoted to the discussion of the tax reform proposed by the Ministry of Finance. The meeting took place at the Government Communication Center. Among the participants of the discussion were Director of the Ministry of Finance department for tax, customs policy and accounting methodology Mykola Chmeruk, Director of the department for tax policy Victor Ovcharenko, Director of the Ukrainian Media Center for Reforms Taras Kachka, expert of the Recovery Reform Package Pavlo Kukhta, coordinator of the project group of the civil platform "Nova Krayina" Taras Kozak, expert of the Ukrainian independent center for political studies Anastasiya Krasnosilska. Representatives of Kyiv, Dnipropetrovsk, Lviv, Odessa, Poltava, Kharkiv and Chernigiv participated in the meeting simultaneously in the mode of a video conference. 

In the course of the meeting the representatives of the Ministry of Finance again mentioned the core aspects of the tax reform referring to the salary taxation, administrative burden on tax and customs authorities as well as incentives for investors. Director of the Ministry of Finance department for tax, customs policy and accounting methodology Mykola Chmeruk pointed out: «We want to reduce the tax burden on salaries, eliminated biased approach in the work of the tax and customs authorities. With this purpose we are already restructuring the State Fiscal Service and improving tax revenue management. We take care of the climate for investors and propose to implements investment tax credit and a progressive tax scale fostering micro- and small businesses in Ukraine».

The tax reform has become subject to manipulations. The reason for this, as experts say, is the complex and complicated nature of the tax system. The tax system impacts various interest groups which might sometimes oppose each other. 

Director of the Ukrainian Media Center for Reforms Taras Kachk said referring to this: «This year we have involved business and experts into the discussion of the tax reform principles and staged a huge number of meetings. But taxes are to some extent like football with everyone having a better idea of football than professional players. This is the reason why the proposals of the Ministry of Finance based on these meetings were not acknowledged with overwhelming enthusiasm. Taxes are a crossing point for the interests of all social groups, which is why there is a huge number of interests to be taken into account».