Government urged to review critical provisions of the National Revenue Strategy

The Association "Ukrainian Agribusiness Club" appealed to the Prime Minister of Ukraine Denys Shmyhal and relevant ministries with a request to finalize certain provisions of the National Revenue Strategy until 2030, which will have a negative impact on the agricultural sector.

As stated in the appeal, during the development of the National Revenue Strategy of Ukraine until 2030, which was adopted on December 27, 2023 and sets the direction of tax and customs reforms in Ukraine until 2030, representatives of the business community and the public were not involved in the discussion. As a result, the document does not include the interests of the real sector of the economy, which fills the budgets of all levels.

UCAB experts have analyzed the National Revenue Strategy until 2030 and report that it has a number of critical provisions for agrarian business, namely:

1. Abolition of thesimplified taxation system for the agricultural sector: such an initiative in the context of war, when farmers are in a difficult situation, will only lead to an even greater financial burden on agricultural business and a decrease in budget revenues at all levels.

At the same time, farmers continue to pay a fixed tax - a fee for simplified accounting, and if the simplified system is canceled, there will be no such fee, so the state and local budgets will only lose money.

2. Increase in excise taxes on fuel: only recently the excise tax rates on fuel have been returned to pre-war levels, further increases in excise taxes will contribute to an additional increase in logistics costs for the entire economy and a significant increase in prices for citizens and businesses, making Ukrainian products more expensive and less competitive on the world market.

3. Empowering the State Tax Service of Ukraine to unilaterally seize accounts (property) and block them without a court decision: this approach sets a precedent for the widespread practice of blocking business and enshrines a violation of the constitutional principle of the presumption of innocence. In addition, such an initiative worsens the investment climate, which will have significant negative consequences for our country's economy.

"Implementation of the provisions of the National Revenue Strategy until 2030 in the current form will have a significant negative impact on the economic and investment climate of Ukraine. Expanding the discretionary powers of regulatory authorities, complicating administration will not ensure trust in regulatory authorities and will not create a comfortable environment for a rapid economic recovery by business entities," the appeal says.

The UCAB urges to hold discussions with representatives of the business community to finalize the provisions of the National Revenue Strategy until 2030 that are of concern.