On December 9, 2015, a press conference entitled “Tax Reform 2016: What Awaits Business?” was hosted by the press center of the Interfax-Ukraine news agency. It was organized by the «Yuridychna Praktyka» (Legal Practice) publishing house with the support of “Business” newspaper.
Five leading Tax lawyers according to the Legal Awards (winners of the last 5 years) commented on the major legislative initiatives of the Ministry of Finance of Ukraine and the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Taxation and customs policy.
Yaroslav Romanchuk, managing partner of the International Legal Center EUCON, stated that the tax reform promised by the authorities will probably fail due to the lack of political will from the country leaders, populism and the reluctance of politicians to go through the reduction of budget expenditures.
In his speech, Yaroslav emphasized that structural reformation of the tax administration and liquidation of the tax police should become the key factor of tax reform. An important question is not only the rates, but also tax administration and elimination of leverage on entrepreneurs. In addition, it is advisable to update and reduce staff resources of the tax authorities by means of eliminating duplicate regulatory functions. These measures will help businesses to breathe freely. “Tax reform can lead to real changes only if accompanied with both structural and administrative reforms” – said Yaroslav.
Yaroslav Romanchuk also drew attention to the need of implementation of personal responsibility of State Fiscal Service officials: disciplinary and criminal.
Other participants included senior partner at WTS Consulting Oleksandr Minin, managing partner of GOLAW law firm Valentyn Hvozdiy, Honorary President of Jurimex law firm Danil Hetmantsev, and managing partner of “Legal Consulting Center” law firm Artur Nonko.
Rustam Kolesnik, Director General of “Yurydychna Praktyka” (Legal Practice) publishing house, and Volodymyr Chepovoy, Director General of “Blitz Inform” publishing house, moderated the press conference.
Video of the press conference can be viewed on our website or by following the link: http://interfax.com.ua/news/general/309778.html