Pro-Russian channels report that Ukraine is planning to introduce a tax on wastefulness

Several (pro)russian Telegram channels reported that the President’s Office was planning to introduce a “parasite tax” in Ukraine.

There’s no such statement or legislative initiative. As for us, we try to stay one step ahead of the news. So, if you see similar “news” on trash sites or Facebook pages — such as “Cards, Greetings”, don’t it share it. Ignore it. 

The fiction stems from a Ukrayinska Pravda article “One is fighting — four are working. Zelenskyy is preparing economic reserves thanks to mobilization”. 

The article states that 950,000 of 11.1 million draft-eligible Ukrainian men aged 25-60 neither work, pay taxes, nor serve in the military. 

And now, pro-russian resources claim that Deputy Head of the President’s Office Rostyslav Shurma has implemented an initiative targeting this group, proposing to introduce a parasite tax “in order to encourage them to work normally, declare income and pay taxes into the budget”. 

The fake newsmakers have come up with the idea that the tax could generate UAH 1,500 per month. And further — failure to pay would limit access to public services, vehicles, travel abroad — with property seizure and sale. But, tax payment would not exempt mobilization. This provision would be included in the economic mobilization draft law.

A “parasite tax” did exist in the Soviet Union. Belarus — under de facto russian occupation and from where missiles are launched against Ukraine — also implemented then cancelled its own version of this tax. 

According to the so-called “parasite decree” adopted in 2015, every non-working Belarusian had to pay the state about 170 euros annually. After massive protests in Minsk and the regions, russia’s vassal Alyaksandr Lukashenka postponed the tax deadline and then cancelled it completely in January 2018. However, a database of freeloaders remains in Belarus. http://surl.li/qsnpl 

Discussions around a similar parasite tax in so-called russia have been rejected so far. In 2016, the minister of labour and social protection of the so-called russian federation proposed to collect 20,000 rubles a year from unemployed, able-bodied citizens, but this initiative has so far been rejected. 

Reminder. Earlier, false information on the web alleged that tax evaders’ children would be banned from entering higher educational institutions. The Verkhovna Rada underlined that this was misinformation