Tax increase shows Ukraine fails to support economy - lawyer

He said this on the air of the Espreso TV channel.

‘To join the EU, we need to bring our legislation in line with the European one. But it is very important to understand that the EU is primarily an economic association of states. Therefore, it is very important for us to move towards harmonizing our legislation in terms of economic direction,’ said Tkachenko.

According to the VB Partners attorney, Ukraine is facing challenges that the EU economy has never experienced — a full-scale war. Ukraine has to support economic development in difficult conditions. The fact that Ukraine is not very successful in supporting the economy is evidenced by the tax increase. The budget gap, which became the basis for raising taxes, is a consequence of the fact that Ukraine did not carry out structural reforms in the economy during 2021-2022.

‘The Fraser Institute's study, which assesses the level of economic freedom in different countries, has issued a new ranking. Ukraine has lost 37 positions in this ranking. Today, we are ranked 150th in the world out of 165 countries in terms of economic freedom. This shows that we have started to lose the pace of maintaining economic freedoms in order to develop our economy,’ said Tkachenko.

On October 14, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine rejected all resolutions that blocked the signing of the law on tax increases. The President may sign the document in the coming days.