An excessive number of taxes and their administration are the key problems of the current tax system in Ukraine, which may further contribute to the shadowing of the economy. This opinion was expressed in an exclusive commentary to UNN by Andriy Novak , the head of the Committee of Economists of Ukraine.
The main problem with the Ukrainian tax system today is the excessive pile-up of tax payments. We currently have 135 types of different tax charges, and this greatly demotivates business activity and encourages shadowing, which is what is happening here
According to him, about 50% of the Ukrainian economy is "in the shadows," and this is a direct consequence of the tax system in Ukraine that is overly overburdened with penalties. "Therefore, the key task in the tax reform, if it were to be implemented, would be to drastically reduce the number of tax penalties. Their excessive number is the key problem of our tax system," Novak said.
At the same time, the expert added that the relatively low tax rates of income tax and personal income tax, unified tax, and excise taxes can be considered an advantage of the current tax system. But their number and administration are its major drawbacks.
Novak believes that the main challenges due to this tax policy are further shadowing of the Ukrainian economy, the practice of certain restrictions on economic activity, and bans on certain types of activity, including those related to martial law.
"There are some objective things and some subjective things, let's say, layers of ineffective tax policy. The practice of bribes in the tax service to tax officials has returned. For some reason, the digitalization of our lives has not yet reached business activities, and the tax system in particular," he said.
Recall
In an exclusive interview with UNN, Yana Matviychuk, a volunteer, founder of the creative agency ARENA CS, member of the Board Young Business Club , said that the tax policy implemented by Hetmantsev is severely hampering the Ukrainian economy and, if not stopped, will lead to its decline in the future.