At the spring meetings of the International Monetary Fund held in Washington, representatives from Ukraine received a number of recommendations regarding the funding of the state budget for 2026. In particular, the discussions included the increase of taxes, specifically the value-added tax (VAT) rate, as well as the transition to a progressive income tax scale for individuals. This scale entails higher rates for individuals with high incomes. The possible introduction of a “luxury tax” was also mentioned.
This is reported by Бізнес • Медіа
The delegation paid much more attention to issues of de-shadowing the economy. The IMF expressed concern about potential tax evasion due to the simplified tax system. However, specific timelines and mechanisms for changing tax rates were not discussed.
“We have a potential additional resource even without raising taxes in 2025. We are already focusing on 2026,” noted the Ministry of Finance of Ukraine, adding that the possibility of fully confiscating frozen Russian assets for the benefit of Ukraine was also discussed.
Furthermore, the head of the financial committee of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, Danilo Hetmantsev, clarified that the issue of increasing VAT is not currently on the agenda.