ArcelorMittal Kryvyi Rih (Dnipropetrovsk region) says that a new increase in the environmental tax will not lead to an improvement in the environment.
According to the head of the plant’s representative office in Kyiv, Volodymyr Tkachenko, “some government officials are more concerned about raising funds from the environmental tax than solving real environmental problems in industrial cities.”
Tkachenko claims that modernization of production costs enterprises large amounts, but instead of creating incentives for industrial enterprises, they increase taxes and withdraw working capital. So, for the nine months of this year, the plant paid Hr 242 million in environmental taxes, which is 44 percent more compared to the same period last year (Hr 168 million).
The rate on carbon dioxide emissions from this year grew by 25 times, from Hr 0.41 to Hr 10 per tonne. Next in turn is a new fiscal initiative: starting in 2020, it is proposed to quadruple rates on emissions into the air, waste water discharge and waste treatment – bill No. 2367 has already been registered in the Verkhovna Rada. This will increase budget revenues from the environmental tax from Hr 3.5 billion to Hr 14 billion per year, will be a “stimulating factor for reducing emissions”,” the expert said, with reference to the explanatory note to the bill.
“The logic of the bill is formal: since enterprises pay more, they will allegedly have an incentive to reduce emissions. In fact, enterprises implementing environmental projects at their own expense will have less money to implement new technologies and equipment. But only with their help it is possible to reduce industrial burden on the environment, and this doesn’t need raising money to the national budget,” Tkachenko noted.
