SDPU(o) Accuses Government Of Derailing Tax Reform And Call for Fast Cuts

The Socialist Democratic Party of Ukraine (united) has opted for basing the next budget on a new tax system, demanding the government urgently reduce the corporate and individual income taxes along with the VAT. Such steps, SDPU(o) believes, “are to constitute the first stage in tax reform, which will promote the growth of the economy and living standards in Ukraine.” As stressed in the SDPU(o) political council statement, the party “categorically rejects any efforts to block the tax reform long awaited by millions of citizens. The current situation testifies to the professional incompetence of a government that for the second year now has ignored the opinion of the president of Ukraine and position of most deputies in Verkhovna Rada,” UNIAN reports. “As we expected, the present government is gradually but consistently leading us toward a breakdown of tax reform and its indefinite postponement,” the statement adds.

Because lawmakers have approved the draft Tax Code only in the its first reading and thousands of amendments have already been submitted for the second reading, representatives of the executive have stated that there is a need to draw up a budget with a surplus for 2002 basing it on the old tax system. SDPU(o) believes, “This is absolutely un acceptable, it is urgent and obligatory [for the government] to decide to reduce taxes, with the decision later on enacted in the new Tax Code to become one of the stages of tax reform.” For the SDPU(o), the statement continues, “Obviously, the government is incapable of such decisions and for this reason is looking for various excuses to justify its procrastination in solving such vital issues... In fact, reducing taxes by making the appropriate changes in the law is a natural, technological procedure, requiring no legal conflicts.”