Reducing vacant positions in the State Tax Service will not lead to better work of the State Tax Service. This opinion was expressed by MP Mykhailo Tsymbalyuk in an exclusive commentary to UNN.
Details
Danylo Hetmantsev, chairman of the Rada's tax committee, said that the government had decided to reduce the number of tax officials by 15% (3.3 thousand people). According to him, this was done due to digitalization and the introduction of a risk-based approach to tax control in the management of tax authorities. Mr. Hetmantsev noted that the savings will be used to increase the salaries of tax officers.
However, according to experts, the cuts are likely to affect vacant positions in the State Tax Service, and the number of employees physically present in the tax office is unlikely to change much.
I don't believe that cutting these positions, let alone leaving them vacant, will affect the quality of the tax service. It is important that they do their job well, so that there are no more raids on businesses and no more demands for taxes to be paid in advance. But this service is especially important in these difficult conditions of a limited budget and a growing deficit gap
He reminded that the tax service is a fiscal authority that implements laws and regulations adopted by the Cabinet of Ministers and the Verkhovna Rada. Therefore, according to the MP, the effectiveness of the State Tax Service is not always affected by its quantitative composition. "First of all, qualitative indicators are important, as well as the formula - that is, the rules of the game: what they have to do, the absence of corruption, and more involvement of electronic systems that avoid human intervention, for example, automatic VAT refunds. Where there is no interference, everything goes well, but where there is human interference, inhibition and abuse begin," said Tsymbalyuk.
In addition, according to Tsymbalyuk, we should also abandon the idea that the tax authorities work in the status of "acting". "That is, they work without knowing their career future, because they can be fired at any time, without any rules or explanations, and their responsibility is the same. That is, we need to move to a full-fledged appointment of a manager and hold them accountable for their performance. This is not difficult to do, because there are many European examples of such fiscal services," the MP emphasized.
Add
Recently, there have been more and more reports of corruption being exposed among tax officials, including those in senior positions. The most recent example was the detention of Dmytro Nefyodov, acting deputy head of the Main Department of the State Tax Service in Kyiv, who is a protege of the acting deputy head of the State Tax Service Yevhen Sokur.
Former MP Ihor Mosiychuk told UNN that Sokur coordinates appointments in the agency with the head of the Rada's tax committee, Danylo Hetmantsev. Experts note that Hetmantsev is doing everything possible to make tax officials consider themselves "masters of life"who can create problems for any business.
Recall
Earlier , UNN reported that criminal proceedings were opened on November 4, 2022, against the protégé and right-hand man of the Chairman of the Tax Committee of the Rada, Danylo Hetmantsev, acting Deputy Chairman of the State Tax Service, Yevhen Sokur, under Part 3 of Article 365 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. The case was opened on the fact of abuse of power by Sokur, who on October 26, 2022, issued an order to revoke the license of PJSC Ukrtatnafta for the production of fuel. According to the investigation, his actions caused serious consequences for the company and the state in the form of the inability to fulfill the mobilization tasks of the Ministry of Defense for the production and supply of petroleum products for the needs of defense and the state's defense capability.
The Office of the Prosecutor General confirmed to UNN that investigators of the State Bureau of Investigation are investigating a case involving the acting deputy head of the State Tax Service of Ukraine, Yevhen Sokur.