2024-07-29T17:21:00+03:00 Finance 2024-09-15T04:12:51+03:00

Ukrainian news

Stefanchuk not ruling out increasing VAT instead of military duty

Stefanchuk not ruling out increasing VAT instead of military duty

Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada, Ruslan Stefanchuk, does not rule out increasing the VAT rate instead of the military duty.

He said this in an interview with the Ukrainian News agency.

"I just want to say that there are two ways out of this situation (deficit reduction in the budget): either to increase a little bit different types of taxation with a narrow tax base, or to slightly increase one type of taxation with a high tax base. I really hope that the committee will hold a discussion. If your bill is fair and applies to everyone, it causes less criticism in society than point changes for some specific persons, because in the bill minuses are added. And therefore, we also need to understand whether we will get this necessary amount, but also how many votes we will get for this in the parliament," said the head of the parliament.

According to him, a lot in the choice of the tax increase model will depend on how the discussion will take place in the specialized tax committee.

"There is a philosophy that the government has proposed - to take a little bit in many places to demonstrate the need for the budget to receive a very specific number that it is asking for. This is the number that makes up the budget deficit for this year, accordingly, it should be redirected to that period of the next year, when military action will be conducted. They proposed such a model. There is another model - to take one tax that has the widest service base, namely the value added tax, and increase it by a certain percentage," he explained.

Stefanchuk noted that when the needs of the war and the number of mobilized persons increase, which need to be provided financially, in particular with equipment and the necessary weapons, "it is important to understand that this will require funds from the budget."

"The Rada is absolutely realistic. And we are aware that we can either increase the income to the budget by raising taxes, or through emission. Emission is not an option. Therefore, we cannot allow this to happen. We must appeal to the people of Ukraine in various ways so that the Armed Forces of Ukraine have financial support," said the speaker of the parliament about a possible vote in the Rada to increase taxes.

As the Ukrainian News agency earlier reported, the Cabinet of Ministers approved bills proposing to raise taxes by a total of UAH 140 billion by the end of the year, and increase spending on defense and security forces by UAH 495.3 billion.