The FINANCIAL — The International Monetary Fund criticized Ukraine’s parliament on December 18, saying legislators had all but scuttled a tax-overhaul plan that would help unlock much-needed loans from the Washington-based lender, according to Nasdaq.
Ukraine’sFinance Ministry and lawmakers spent months hashing out a tax plan that would meet the demands of parliament, and the two sides appeared to finally reach a compromise proposal last week. But on Thursday, lawmakers from all but one party appeared to reject the proposed plan.
“It is with concern that we have observed the discussions yesterday in parliament that effectively rejected the government’s proposals for a new tax code and the government budget for 2016,” said David Lipton, first deputy managing director of the IMF.
The dispute over the budget and tax code has already delayed the disbursal of the latest loan tranche of about $2 billion, as Ukraine battles recession amid the ongoing conflict against Russia-backed separatists in the east.
Lawmakers from Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko’s party, the largest faction in parliament, proposed postponing tax reform until 2016.
“We propose postponing the government’s tax code until the first quarter of the next year, so that it will be implemented by 2017,” said Yuriy Lutsenko, the head of the party. “Our accountants must not hang themselves on Jan. 1. They must know that the law guarantees them new rules at least half a year before the new tax year.”
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