The head of the parliamentary committee on finance, tax, and customs policy, Danylo Hetmantsev, stated that the government is not considering increasing the VAT rate within the budget process.
The focus is only on specific measures aimed at improving tax administration. Hetmantsev mentioned this in an interview with "RBC-Ukraine".
He reminded of the bill regarding the implementation of the European directive DAC7, which provides for taxation of activities on digital platforms such as Uber and Glovo. Additionally, he noted that the IMF is raising the issue of parcel taxation.
"I do not rule out such decisions, but increasing the VAT rate is not a relevant issue at the moment," he emphasized.
The politician noted that increasing VAT in the context of a significant share of the shadow economy is a destructive step, as it will enhance shadow activities and create additional pressure on honest taxpayers.
"If we assume that 900 billion hryvnias are in the shadows, and I think next year it will already be 1 trillion - and this is not turnover, but just uncollected taxes - it’s a matter of the quality of administration," Hetmantsev emphasized.
He also reminded that in 2023, the government increased the military tax for all categories of taxpayers. At the same time, further steps in the field of taxation, according to him, will depend on the level of international financial support.
"I will not categorically state — no. If we find ourselves in a situation where such a decision becomes the only option... But before that, all other possibilities need to be exhausted," the committee head noted.
Meanwhile, Hetmantsev stressed that even a significant increase in VAT will not be able to meet Ukraine’s funding needs.
"We will not collect 10 billion dollars by raising VAT. 1% VAT is worth 50 billion hryvnias per year. This means that we would need to raise the VAT rate to 30%. That’s nonsense," he concluded.