As you know, the Cabinet of Ministers approved the National Revenue Strategy for 2024-2030 within the framework of the program of the IMF’s extended financing mechanism, which laid down the principles of tax policy and administration for Ukraine in the short- and medium-term perspectives. How is it currently performed?
Before talking about the National Income Strategy for 2024-2030, I want to recall one story from my past. I had an acquaintance named Oleksandr – we worked together in the design bureau during the years of stagnation. In the 1990s, he quickly built his company, and because his products were innovative and very profitable, the company grew like yeast. And someone liked it from those who were in power. An acquaintance of mine was “run over” by the police, accused of some crimes, put in a pre-trial detention center, and the company suspended its work. The person spent two years in the SIZO, of course, there was no trial. He was given a condition to give his company to a specific person – he refused. He managed to escape from the pre-trial detention center in just two years. And a miracle: he was cleared of charges. But the enterprise, of course, died in two years. Not only that: all his equipment, his entire car fleet, which were in responsible storage at the police services, miraculously melted into thin air. Trucks, cars, machines – everything was licked by the cow.
I will ask a simple riddle: who was punished among those who took property? That’s right: no one! Oleksandr lost two years of his life, lost his health – the pre-trial detention center did little to help him, he lost all his property, and no one was punished for it. Note that the budget also lost all the taxes of this enterprise both during the two years of Oleksandr’s pre-trial detention center and the following years – because the enterprise died. The end of this tale is very simple: Oleksandr left Ukraine, it seems, for Slovakia, there he recreated his technologies and lived out the years he had left – he thoroughly lost his health in the pre-trial detention center.
Some may say that corruption is to blame. It is not true. Corruption is a violation of laws. If the country’s laws are structured in such a way that officials and law enforcement investigators can rob both business and the budget in the name of their interests, and this is natural for these laws, then this is no longer corruption. This means that these laws are aimed exclusively at enriching officials and security forces. They simply have no other goals.
On December 16, 1773, a famous event took place in the city of Boston “Boston Tea Party” during which Boston businessmen, outraged by the tax policy of the English crown, gave the tax aristocracy a lesson in how tax arbitrariness ends. It was then that the famous slogan of the American Revolution was born: “No taxation without representation”. Let me remind you that at that time the authorities did not dare to take away people’s weapons, and the “Boston Tea Party” had little resemblance to cross-stitching.
For a very long time, all the arbitrariness of Ukrainian officials and security forces usually cost them nothing personally. Simple lethal weapons are not available in our country. How many businesses have been destroyed over the years thanks to the actions of valiant officials and security forces is impossible to count. A lot, we can say almost exactly. The robbery of businesses by officials and security forces is the main reason for the holes in the budget. It’s very easy to check: the number of luxury cars and above: 99 percent of these luxury cars are bought by those who live by robbing businesses. By the way, when we say that there are more luxury cars in Ukraine than in Poland, Hungary, Romania, etc., this is all a consequence – the presence of an official aristocracy in our country, which is busy robbing businesses. However, today, when hundreds of thousands of people have weapons in their hands, sooner or later these weapons can become the guarantor of a new Boston Tea Party. In Ukrainian. I’m just afraid that the matter won’t be over with just one cup of tea.
When you read the National Revenue Strategy for 2024-2030, you get the feeling that its authors are confident in the right of Ukrainian officials and security forces to rob businesses with impunity until the end of the century. Anyone who says that it’s all in the name of the budget is either a fool or a scoundrel. In this document, reminiscent of the manifestos of the Bolsheviks: “Loot the loot!”, there is no real punishment at all for the arbitrariness of officials and security forces. Generally does not exist as a class. Any businessman knows well that the main holes in the budget are the arbitrariness of officials.
Someone can say that the National Strategy is copied from European laws. No, ladies and gentlemen. The basis of this document is the famous codex of Genghis Khan. Nukers, or warriors, that is, today they are officials and security forces – they rob and collect tribute. Part of this tribute goes to the budget, it’s not a pity. And the rest – to nukers! And somehow it turns out that nukers will never be offended.
The reason for this story is one: the famous phrase has been forgotten: “there are no taxes without representation!”. The fact that officials and security forces collect tribute is caused by one thing: they have power in their hands. There is nothing more to it. But now, when hundreds of thousands of people have guns in their hands, anything can happen. And it’s a good idea to think about it BEFORE that weapon can start firing. Because THEN it will be too late to think.
Here comes to mind the classic, the famous fairy tale of Ivan Franko: “The Hare and the Bear”: “Once upon a time there was a strong and ferocious Bear in a forest. He used to go around the forest and strangle and tear everything…” So, ladies and gentlemen! Sooner or later, there will be a Hare for every Bear that does its own thing.
In fact, there can only be one answer. Businesses should be given the right to dismiss officials and law enforcement officers, punish arbitrariness with fines, and act as arbitrators in cases between officials and businesses. Legislative measures are needed to implement the requirement: “There are no taxes without representation.” And if this does not happen, then soon it will be necessary to dig defense structures around tax offices, customs offices and other places where business robbers are concentrated. Because the business may get tired of this robbery, and it already has weapons.
Leonid Shtekel
