Hetmantsev runs the tax office through his former assistant, a member of the Taxpayers Association
Kyiv • UNN
A representative of the Association of Taxpayers claims that MP Danylo Hetmantsev runs the tax service through his former assistant
No important meetings at the State Tax Service of Ukraine take place without the participation of the head of the Verkhovna Rada Tax Committee, MP Danylo Hetmantsev. And one of the acting deputy heads of the State Tax Service is Yevhen Sokur, a former assistant to Hetmantsev. Accordingly, decisions are not made without Hetmantsev's knowledge. This was stated by Dmytro Oleksiyenko, a member of the Taxpayers Association Council, in a commentary to UNN.
According to Oleksiyenko, Sokur directly manages the areas where the most painful issues for business arise - blocking tax invoices, inspections, etc.
"That is, all, let's say, the areas responsible for tax pressure are in the hands of Mr. Danylo's former assistant.
Secondly, as we can see, no major meeting in the tax office takes place without the participation of Mr. Hetmantsev, which indicates that he manually controls all these processes.
Of course, it is legally difficult to prove that his signature is on any documents that define the activities of a particular taxpayer, but we see that this man is informally and actually in charge," Oleksiyenko said.
He emphasized that such interference of the MP in the activities of the tax service is a mixing of the legislative and executive branches of power. And their separation is the basis of democratic processes. And according to the Constitution, this is unacceptable.
"It's just like it was under Yanukovych - the implementation and methodology of taxes, the definition of taxes and customs duties were mixed, when the Ministry of Revenue and Duties was created, which both defined and implemented tax and customs policy. Here we see the same thing now, but even worse: the legislator is running the tax office with his own hands," says the representative of the Taxpayers Association, adding that this is also a question to the President as to why Hetmantsev directly affects the work of the tax office, since he is a member of the Servant of the People.
Oleksiyenko adds that the Ministry of Finance has the authority to influence the work of the State Tax Service in a certain way.
"But in several interviews, Marchenko (Minister of Finance - ed.) was asked a direct question about the influence of Mr. Hetmantsev, and he answered that the Ministry of Finance has no influence on either the tax or customs. They do not even regulate personnel issues, which they are supposed to regulate according to the laws of Ukraine.
And there is a problem with personnel. Most of the patriotic staff were fired immediately, when the leadership was changed before the full-scale change.
For example, the declaration of officials has now been opened - we do not see the declarations of either the acting head of the tax service or the deputy head, despite the fact that they were the ones who received the most questions from the public," Oleksiyenko said.
According to a representative of the Taxpayers Association, the situation is only getting worse and is likely to continue to deteriorate. And what is happening with the implementation of tax policy leads to the relocation of business outside Ukraine, or entrepreneurs are forced to look for other options to avoid the pressure that is being put on them.
"You see that businesses are actively relocating to other countries, that businesses are closing down, being shattered. We see companies that paid VAT closing down, and at the same time, many individual entrepreneurs opening up. The growth of sole proprietorships is precisely the result of pressure on large and medium-sized businesses, they are being broken up and opening sole proprietorships," Oleksiyenko explained.
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Experts and business representatives have repeatedly stated that the head of the Verkhovna Rada Tax Committee, Danylo Hetmantsev, has an influence on the tax service. In particular, Hetmantsev is said to be involved in the massive blocking of tax invoices.
At the same time, Hetmantsev himself called his activities in relation to the tax service "parliamentary control". He also rejected accusations that he was taking over the powers of the executive branch, saying that he was simply helping entrepreneurs.
