Verkhovna Rada fails to vote for IMF and EU tax initiatives worth $8bn
Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine did not support a number of bills, necessary to fulfil obligations to The European Union and the International Monetary Fund as part of financial assistance for $8 billion.
These initiatives included Increasing the tax burden, strengthening financial monitoring and measures against the shadow economy.
Voting results
Parliament not enough votes, to include the relevant draft laws on the agenda. As a result of the voting, decisions on several documents were not adopted.
In particular, it failed:
draft law №14025 - 113 deputies voted in favour;
draft law №14067 - 161 votes in favour;
draft law №13620 - 146 votes in favour.
In all cases, the decision was not made due to insufficient votes.
What the initiatives envisaged
The submitted draft laws included provisions on:
Increase in certain taxes;
strengthening control over financial transactions;
limiting the shadow economy;
execution IMF and EU structural beacons.
Other initiatives included a proposal to introduce taxation of online trading, including transactions on platforms such as OLX.
Context.
Ukraine is part of the EU's macro-financial support programme and the IMF's Extended Fund Facility. Compliance with tax and regulatory obligations is a condition for Receiving the next tranches of international assistance.
At the same time, some MPs and business representatives criticise the proposed changes, stating that increased tax pressure in times of war could have a negative impact on economic activity.
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