It is wrong to divide business into the “chosen ones” and those subject to stricter control. The expert criticized the “White Business Club”

Instead of introducing clear performance criteria for the tax and customs services, the legislator adopted a business assessment mechanism that divides companies into “chosen ones” and those subject to stricter control. This approach is wrong, because honest businesses should not be subject to excessive scrutiny by fiscal authorities. This opinion was expressed in an exclusive commentary to UNN by Myroslav Laba, tax and regulatory policy specialist at the Economic Expert Platform, associate expert at CASE Ukraine.

Instead of adopting legislation to define the criteria for the effectiveness of the tax and customs service, the legislator adopted provisions on the criteria for assessing businesses and dividing them into those who deserve more attention from the fiscal authorities (consultations, responses, inspections) and those who do not. This is a wrong approach, those companies that are honest should not know where the tax service is located at all, and those that evade or minimize taxes should have their own “personal” compliance managers who should bring their activities out of the shadows and into the open

In his opinion, the results of the work of fiscal authorities should be publicly communicated. 

Commenting on the information that the White Business Club included companies with ties to sanctioned persons and Russia, Laba noted that the register of companies is dynamic and should be reviewed quarterly. “Therefore, if there are really reasonable grounds, it is worth addressing them to the State Tax Service of Ukraine, and I think these arguments will be properly considered,” he said. 

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Experts and the business community emphasize that Hetmantsev’s initiative to create such a club of the elite is discriminatory and violates the Constitution of Ukraine. Anatoliy Amelin, executive director and co-founder of the Ukrainian Institute for the Future think tank, believes that this creates an opportunity to divide entrepreneurs into those who are politically unwanted and those who are acceptable to the authorities.

“This is discrimination, this is discretion and this is a violation of the Constitution. According to the Constitution, everyone is equal before the law. This law creates conditions under which someone has preferences and a model that determines whether a company should be included in the White Business Club or not. They determine their performance there to be better than the market average. But this is a market, this is a free economy – someone works better, someone works worse, and the idea itself is unconstitutional,” he said  .

Business ombudsman Roman Vashchuk also criticized the White Business Club. He noted, in particular, that it would create a reservation for the elite instead of leveling the playing field for all businesses.