The FINANCIAL — Vice Prime Minister Borys Kolesnykov estimates the shares of the shadow economy in Ukraine at 55-60%.
He gave his position in an interview with the Dzerkalo Tyzhnia newspaper.
"[The shadow economy accounts for] 55-60 percent. This means that the salaries of medical workers and teachers must be at least twice the current amount… They receive half of what they could not because they are bad specialists, but because they do not take part in distribution of proceeds the State cannot gather. There are thousands of businessmen who do not contribute to the revenue part of the budget, but all take part in the expenses," he said.
Vice Prime Minister Kolesnykov said the liquidation of schemes for optimization of taxes is a major task of the new Tax Code.
"We must kill the schemes for optimization of taxes. This is the idea of the Tax Code. But there must be counter traffic too: the environment in Ukraine should be comfortable for the business," he said.
He also called for stock-taking of property and capital to be carried out in Ukraine.
"Before speaking about effective indirect methods we need to carry out a stock-taking of property and capital. Each citizen must carry it out for oneself under the state supervision… At an 'x-hour' all money you want to declare must lay in state banks for 20 days – from December 20, for instance, through January 10, when the operations are minimal. Anything not included in the declaration and is not on the accounts is out of the law," he said.
He added that the increase in the proceeds to the national budget is potentially possible not for the expenses of small business, but for expenses of economic entities that do not pay taxes in full at present.
As Ukrainian News earlier reported, Vice Prime Minister Borys Kolesnykov wants the Verkhovna Rada to endorse the Tax Code ahead of the 2011 national budget.
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