The government sees an increase in the military fee as one of the sources of funding for the army
Kyiv • UNN
The government is considering increasing the military tax as a source of funding for the Armed Forces. Prime Minister Shmyhal said that an additional UAH 500 billion is needed for the army by the end of the year and that the fee should be distributed fairly among Ukrainians.
The Cabinet of Ministers sees an increase in the military tax and the issue of fair distribution of the military tax in Ukrainian society among Ukrainians as one of the sources of funding for the Ukrainian army. This was stated by Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal at a press conference, according to a UNN correspondent .
As for this year's and 2025's budgets, there is war. We understand that when we were planning the 2024 budget together with the IMF, one of the partners' forecasts was that the war would last until the summer of 2024. Accordingly, the budget planned military spending as it is now. But we have ongoing mobilization, we have ongoing vacancies in our Armed Forces, which requires more funding, and we know that funding for each of our soldiers costs UAH 1.2 million for the budget. So, when we recruit people, we have to increase the budget of our Armed Forces
According to him, the figure of UAH 500 billion that was announced and presented is the deficit that the Armed Forces need by the end of this year.
Next year, our plan should take into account these realities and how we will go through this year. This is what we are discussing with the IMF, how we will go about it. Our partners do not provide funds for the Armed Forces. We have to finance it ourselves. We find resources both in domestic borrowing and in other financial instruments. But it is important that Ukraine finances the Ukrainian army on its own, so one of the sources we see is an increase in the military fee and the issue of fair distribution of the military fee in Ukrainian society among Ukrainians. This is actually what the Cabinet of Ministers submitted as a proposal
He is convinced that the parliament will carefully consider this proposal, this draft law, which was discussed on the basis of the specialized committee.
I am convinced that we will finance our army without delays and without deficits. This change in taxation will be in effect for the next year, it will provide an additional resource for the budget, but next year we are also counting on 50 billion from confiscated Russian assets as a safety cushion that will be used both to finance the budget deficit and for our military needs
