Ukraine is considering ways to increase budget revenues, actively discussing it at the level of the government and specialized committees of the Verkhovna Rada. The goal is to find financing in the amount of 0.5% of GDP, which is approximately 40 billion hryvnias. This is necessary to cover various needs, including the increase in defense spending, which already exceeds 400 billion hryvnias.
Ukraine hopes to demonstrate to the International Monetary Fund its readiness for a financing program for a record amount of 15.6 billion dollars. To this end, various ideas are being considered for new taxes, such as a military levy on the profits of businesses and individuals, taxation on precious metals, jewelry, movable property and real estate transactions.
However, calculations show that these measures will not provide the necessary funding for defense needs, and additional measures may be needed. Increasing the rates of major taxes such as VAT and military levy is considered as a possible option. This may require a 6-7% increase in these rates.
In addition to taxes, the authorities are looking at alternatives such as expanding the government bond market, but this has its limitations as the economy has already reached certain limits on government lending.
Earlier, the chairman of the tax committee of the parliament, Danylo Hetmantsev, estimated that Ukraine needs an additional 720 billion hryvnias to mobilize 400,000-500,000 soldiers. This will require the authorities to make "unpopular decisions".
