Kuzminykh talks about the “German model” for pharmacies: manipulation of numbers and pressure on business

People’s Deputy Serhiy Kuzminykh published a statement in which he tries to question the transparency of the pharmaceutical market in Ukraine, manipulating individual figures and rhetoric about “tax minimization”. Experts consider such statements to be pressure on legal business and another example of populism. This is stated in the publication of the parliamentarian, reports UNN.

According to Kuzminykh, Ukrainian pharmacies allegedly “transferred UAH 7.5 billion to almost 17,000 sole proprietors”, and this, they say, indicates hidden income optimization. At the same time, the deputy himself does not mention that working through sole proprietorship is a completely legal form of economic activity in Ukraine, provided for by the Tax Code.

Moreover, a significant part of such payments is the official rent for the premises in which pharmacies operate.

“I personally rent out premises for a pharmacy, and the pharmacy chain pays me monthly as a sole proprietor official rent with all taxes. This is standard practice in the real estate market, and such payments have nothing to do with salaries or minimization schemes,” one of the landlords from Kyiv region explained to UNN.

Kuzminykh also compares the average payment to sole proprietors with the hired salary, not taking into account that entrepreneurs independently pay taxes and bear expenses that hired employees do not have. Such a “comparison” has no economic validity, analysts say.

“Kuzminykh’s statement looks like a classic case of searching for those responsible in a sphere where business operates according to the rules, but politicians need to create informational noise. Ideas like the ‘German model’ are thrown in without any specifics to cause public outrage,” commented one of the participants in the pharmaceutical market.

Currently, pharmacies in Ukraine remain one of the most regulated segments of the market, operating in difficult conditions of war, constant growth of expenses and logistical difficulties. Pressure on entrepreneurs through public “investigations” on Facebook does not contribute to either competition or transparency.