The issue of high taxes for nature reserves was raised in Ukraine

The issue of high taxes for nature reserves was raised in Ukraine shutterstock
Katerina Belousova

Some national parks already owe millions of hryvnias

The Parliamentary Committee on Environmental Policy and Nature Management held a meeting with relevant departments to reduce the financial burden on the objects of the nature reserve fund and will develop a compromise version of tax changes.

Currently, the land tax rate for the forest fund does not exceed 0.1% of their regulatory monetary value, and for protected objects it is 50 times higher, i.e. up to 5%, public figure Mykola Turyk reports on Facebook.

He said that the eco-committee held a meeting with representatives of the Ministry of Finance and the State Fiscal Service, with the support of the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources.

Turyk explained that the Tax Code stipulates that local councils decide on the issue of setting a tax, in particular, a land tax.

"Because of such decisions of some local councils, national parks already owe millions of hryvnias to local budgets," he emphasized, adding that such an approach is unfair.

It is noted that earlier the Ministry of Environment was developing amendments to the legislation to settle this issue. However, the Ministry of Finance did not support the reduction of taxes for state non-profit institutions, which are national parks and other PZF facilities.

As EcoPolitic reported earlier, in Ukraine, as of January 1, 2023, 3.52% of the territories planned by the State Strategy for Regional Development were bequeathed. The success of the program is a maximum of 2% of the required pace.

Tags: ,
Related
Weekly roundup of environmental crimes: deforestation, water and air pollution, and land disputes
Weekly roundup of environmental crimes: deforestation, water and air pollution, and land disputes

The "stars" of the week are foresters from the Odesa region who used intimidation to force forest workers to illegally cut down and sell trees

Illegal profits from waste, poaching, and deforestation: a roundup of environmental crimes
Illegal profits from waste, poaching, and deforestation: a roundup of environmental crimes

In Bukovina, in particular, a large-scale scheme involving the export of unaccounted-for timber was uncovered following 26 searches

A new hydrological reserve covering nearly 400 hectares has been established in Ukraine
A new hydrological reserve covering nearly 400 hectares has been established in Ukraine

Natural communities of aquatic plants identified in the Green Paper grow here

Digest of environmental crimes: record losses due to deforestation and mineral theft
Digest of environmental crimes: record losses due to deforestation and mineral theft

The most costly crime uncovered this week was the illegal extraction of sand, amounting to nearly 750 million hryvnias