People's Deputy Petro Poroshenko has submitted a bill that provides for the return of a share of personal income tax to local deputies, which actually means the withdrawal of these funds from the Armed Forces of Ukraine. During the war, the money will be spent not on the Armed Forces, but on the repair of stadiums and bicycle paths, said expert Valentyn Gladkikh, reports UNN.
"Today, personal income tax funds are spent on the needs of the defense forces. And their transfer from the Armed Forces back to local deputies will in no way contribute to the solution of military tasks, and even more so, will in no way contribute to the improvement of the material and technical base for Ukrainian military personnel. However, Petro Oleksiyovych, of course, does not talk about this. Instead, he continues to engage in outright speculation and manipulation, which is not surprising," said Gladkykh.
In his opinion, Poroshenko's attempts to return personal income tax funds to the local level are related to the desire of local deputies to return to the use of these funds.
"I tend to think that such an ardent desire to return quite a lot of money to local budgets is due to the fact that local deputies can use these funds from local budgets at the expense of their business entities, which will actually repair stadiums, bike paths and parks," emphasizes Gladkykh.
The expert notes that the decision to redirect a larger share of personal income tax from the local to the central budget was made earlier by the Verkhovna Rada because the Ukrainian military needed drones, weapons, and ammunition. Instead, city and village councils spent the money on stadiums, parks, and bicycle paths.
As previously reported, both of Poroshenko's sons of military age left Ukraine for abroad shortly before the war and never returned.