On April 3-4 the delegation of Ukrainian politicians visited Israel. The members of delegation intend to study the Israeli experience in building the system of taxation and lowering fiscal pressure on economy.
The Ukrainian delegation included deputies of the Verkhovna Rada, members of VR Committee on Taxation and Customs Policy, its Chairwoman Nina Yuzhanina, Chair of Lvivska RSA Oleh Syniutka, People’s Deputy Boryslav Bereza, Co-Chairman of Ukraine-Israel friendship group and People’s Deputy Boryslav Rosenblat, Honorary Consul of Israel in Western Region of Ukraine Oleh Vyshniakov. The visit took place upon the initiative of the Honorary Consulate of Israel in Western Region of Ukraine.
On Sunday, April 3, several meetings of Ukrainian parliamentarians with Israeli colleagues took place in Knesset building. Ukrainian deputies had a meeting with Speaker of the Knesset Yuli Edelstein, Knesset Finance Committee Chair Moche Gafni, Deputy Finance Minister Yitzhak Cohen, Former Foreign Affairs Minister and Leader of Yisrael Beiteinu Avigdor Lieberman and Knesset’s Director General Ronen Plot.
As Oleh Vyshniakov noted, «the Israeli experience is unique and can be very useful specifically for Ukraine. Israel built its economy at permanent war, terror, aggression, on unfertile lands. But it managed to set priorities in time. Now we have the possibility to find out how to obtain maximum benefit with minimum resources».
During the meeting Moche Gafni discussed with Ukrainian colleagues the question on reforming the taxation system and gave them several suggestions, which may be used in Ukrainian realities. According to him, in democracy conflicts and tensions are virtually inevitable, but we need to learn how to reach compromise, suggesting practical solutions of these or those problems». Gafni urged Ukrainian parliamentarians to refuse from tax increase, and, vice versa, to aim at their decrease.
In its turn, Deputy Finance Minister Yitzhak Cohen emphasized that in case of the large external debt of the state, the Committee on Taxation and Customs Policy and the government of Ukraine should work on reduction of gap in ratio of state debt to the level of gross domestic product per capita. According to him, it is the most effective to raise GDP level, not increase taxes as well as refuse from taxation of pensions.
Leader of Yisrael Beiteinu Agvidor Lieberman noted that in Israel there are many private companies, ready to invest in Ukraine, but they need to have guarantees that they will not lose money, and these guarantees should be ensured by state.
