Nobody had seen the actual
document, because for technical reasons alone there was no time to
prepare it after the vote for the budgetary and tax codes just hours earlier. And it
looks like button-pushing (the practice of voting for several
colleagues) has come back to the Rada with the help of People’s
Front, Arseniy Yatsenyuk’s faction.
As a result, the new
parliament turned the procedure for approval of the new financial
document of the year into “budget pushing.” And they pushed it
through.
The 2015 budget could not
have been good. Firstly, because it was assembled out of a mass of the
available elements. The budget deficit is the highest in the past
decade (not just the figure reflected in the relevant section, but the
stuff that’s hidden in the budget of Naftogaz, for example),
according to Viktor Pynzenyk, who is an authoritative figure in Petro
Poroshenko’s Bloc.
Secondly, because the
country needs money for defense and security. And in this year we
hiked these expenses to an unprecedented level. Which is justified.
And thirdly, our most
important task is to launch the liberal reforms, which basically mean
rolling up state paternalism that continues to be the main
expectation of Ukrainians.
We have to admit
that the main problem for our economy is not the anti-terrorist
operation, but the old schemes that exist to this day. On Dec. 29 we
approved the budget after reaching many compromises as we strived to
balance this document.
In other words, we generally agreed who we
will take money from next year, and who we will reallocate it to. But
we have certainly failed to solve the main problem of the 2015
budget, 2015 economy and 2015 Ukraine, which is corruption in the
general prosecutor’s office, police and tax inspection. Which is
contraband. Which is money-laundering platforms. Which is offshores.
We have also failed to publicly formulate the strategy on how to turn
the oligarchs into big, and honest, business.
One of the chapters
in the budgetary process deserves special attention – it’s the hike of taxation for oil and gas extraction for our oligarchs. The
leadership of the tax committee did not even try to hide its open
lobbying effort for low rent on energy extraction. The shorthand record of
the meeting of tax committee and protocol of the vote will give
answers to many questions journalists are asking. But in the end,
lobbyism failed. That’s because our Rada is a post-Maidan one.
The budgetary
process should have answered one question, whether the economy will
be re-launched and whether the Ukrainian small and medium business
can become a reliable driver of the car that’s not going very well.
This is why the
government has reduced the single social tax (to 16 percent for those
companies which were in the shadow and are ready to get back to the
light), introduced VAT accounts (which will work in test mode as of
Feb. 1), 5 to 10 percent import duty, declared the reduction in number of taxes from 22 to 9, reduced the tax rates, and banned
inspections of business for two years. Now we have to see whether
these measures will work.
Personally, I could
not vote for this budget, like 70 other deputies who signed the
coalition agreement. This is not a demarche, as some people are
trying to interpret. This is a sober and public evaluation of the
quality of parliamentary work, which we’re creating with our own
hands. I would like to vote and share responsibility between our
government and coalition. But this was the moment when you realize
that we will either continue the practice of breaking everyone’s will
over the knee, or we will try to break this knee.
One of the key roles
in yesterday’s vote was played by Speaker Volodymyr Hroysman. But his
game was nothing like chess, more like a game of cards. Winners and
losers of the new 2015 budget will soon be clear.
Svitlana
Zalishchuk is a deputy from Petro Poroshenko’s Bloc. The Russian-language version of this op-ed was published by Novoye Vremya, a news site.
