Donetsk Oblast collects only 36% of its expenses in taxes

Oligarch Rinat Akhmetov

Donetsk Oblast collects only 36% of its expenses in taxes

A very interesting figure was cited at a meeting between a group of journalists and Verkhovna Rada chairman [Oleskandr] Turchynov yesterday [March 22]. Authorities conducted an audit of all benefits and budget subsidies in all regions of Ukraine.

Yuri Butusov, editor-in-chief of censor.net.ua, wrote on his Facebook, “The most subsidized and unprofitable oblasts for the budget are Donetsk, Luhansk, and Crimea. If Donetsk Oblast hadn’t transferred any taxes to the central budget and kept all taxes for local needs, it could have financed without subsidies and grants only 36% of its local budget. I hope that the crazy subsidizing of the coal industry will finally stop—the money still isn’t reaching the coal miners, anyway.

“We should adopt an act on presence-based business taxation. Because Donetsk’s problem is that Akhmetov takes money out of there and puts it into offshore and tax-evasion systems. Akhmetov and his thugs ravage this rich industrial oblast,” Butusov says.

Source: http://censor.net.ua/n277323

Translated by Shara Anatoliy, edited by Robin Rohrback