The Ukrainian parliament is considering economic reservation and mobilization initiatives to support businesses during the war. In particular, employers are given the opportunity to select employees for reservation on their own, subject to payment of the military fee. This was reported by DEV.ua
Details of the initiatives
The initiatives developed by the Economic Development Committee under the leadership of Dmytro Natalukha offer a model of economic booking, which allows employers to identify strategically important employees for their business. To do this, you need to pay 20,000 UAH of military duty per month for each employee who is booked. This will allow businesses to continue to operate and pay the taxes necessary to support the Defense and Security Forces.
Advantages of economical booking
Dmytro Natalukha noted that economic booking is a new mechanism of effective interaction between business and the state, which allows to preserve the economy. He emphasized that without the functioning of business and its taxes, it is impossible to support Ukrainian defenders.
Economic mobilization
Another option for support is economic mobilization, which was described by Ihor Marchuk, chairman of the Subcommittee on State, Business and Investment Cooperation. The purpose of economic mobilization is to involve businesses in performing tasks in areas where they are more competent and efficient than the military. This will free up the military to perform more specific tasks.
Examples of areas for economic mobilization include procurement, logistics, medical care, equipment repair, IT, construction of fortifications, consumer services, office work, HR, and others.
Previously considered models
Earlier, the parliament considered two models of economic booking. The first provided for the payment of taxes on the salary of a person liable for military service in excess of UAH 35,000, which should be enough to support one soldier. The second model provided for a reservation quota, where the employer designates 10% of employees for reservation with a minimum monthly salary of UAH 20,000.
Position of Danylo Hetmantsev
Danylo Hetmantsev, chairman of the Tax Committee, noted that the economic reservation will be available only to representatives of the so-called “Hetmantsev White Business Club” created for the largest taxpayers and businesses close to him. Hetmantsev, known for his criticism of small and medium-sized businesses, believes that such enterprises (FOPs – ed.) harm Ukraine’s tax system and should disappear from the market in principle.
Hetmantsev wants only those businesses that meet the abstract conditions to be able to book. That is, businesses should have such criteria:
- have a tax burden not less than the industry average;
- have a salary not less than the average industry salary in the region;
- have no tax offenses (tax debt).
Who will determine the industry average criteria? Or in the region? Unknown. Also, tax debt. According to Hetmantsev himself, anyone can have a tax debt. In Ukraine, the tax authorities have a lot of leverage to make anyone a debtor out of the blue.
