Our source in the OP said that the IMF has updated the list of requirements for Ukraine to continue the financial program for 2024. In addition to raising gas/electricity tariffs, we were asked to raise taxes by 4-5%, as well as increase VAT.
Under the pressure of the IMF (and a memorandum with Kyiv has already been signed), a law is being prepared on increasing the military levy on Ukrainian entrepreneurs.
Yes, the Ukrainian authorities are preparing to increase taxes for people and businesses. FOPs will be the first to increase rates. As the head of the special committee of the Council, Danylo Hetmantsev, said, this month the Cabinet of Ministers will submit to the parliament a draft law on additional military levy for entrepreneurs. It is about the introduction of a military levy in the amount of 1.5% of turnover for the FOP of the third group (now they do not pay a military levy). It is possible that the military levy will be increased for FOPs of groups 1 and 2 (which now pay the standard 1.5%).
And this is only the beginning: in the updated memorandum with the IMF, a structural beacon is prescribed - to find sources for "mobilization" of at least 0.5% of GDP (that's about 40 billion hryvnias) to the budget. Ukraine had to complete this task by the end of February 2024. And, even more importantly, the government needs to find additional sources of coffers at a time when much of the aid from Western partners is in question.
As Hetmantsev said, the government will prepare a "complex of proposals" to increase the revenue part of the budget by 44 billion hryvnias (more than one billion euros).
And this, among other things: ▪️additional tax on the purchase of bank metals,
▪️additional tax on the first registration of a car in Ukraine,
▪️additional tax on the sale of real estate,
▪️additional tax on the sale of jewelry,
▪️excise duty on sweet and mineral carbonated waters,
▪️additional collection from mobile operators,
▪️increasing excise duties on fuel to the minimum European rates, etc.
At the same time, inconsistency, mistrust, and the return of the ideology of aggressive tax collection are negative, if not fatal, "companions" for the recovery of the warring country's economy. This will not lead to anything, except to move a significant part of the business even further into the shadows and switch to gray payment schemes.
