The attitude of the authorities towards businesses, after a positive trend at the beginning of the war, has started deteriorating again and is accompanied by an increase in pressure, as reported by participants of the iforum2023 event held in Kyiv on August 10.
"This is much better than during (President Viktor) Yanukovych's times, but much worse than before the war," said Vladyslav Chechotkin, co-founder of the country's largest marketplace, Rozetka. According to him, compared to 2021, the pressure has increased.
He stated that the tax service regularly audits the company's activities, including the Integrity Points established by them.
"They don't find anything with us and fine us an amount that, in their opinion, we won't dispute. It's minimal fine amounts. But they interfere. They check. They often disrupt our operations, and so on," added Chechotkin.
He noted that such constant audits have become routine.
"In general, it's like going out in the rain - you need to take an umbrella and go outside," the businessman concluded.
Co-owner of the country's largest express delivery company "Nova Poshta," Volodymyr Popereshniuk, mentioned that entrepreneurs were able to breathe freely last year, but recently the situation has changed significantly.
"Entrepreneurs were able to breathe freely in March (2022), when duties were abolished, tax benefits were introduced, and now everything is returning back to pre-war times. When the authorities were afraid and realized that everything could 'collapse,' they gave entrepreneurs freedom. When it's not as scary anymore, they treat entrepreneurs again like geese and sheep that can be plucked and sheared," he said.
As previously reported, business ombudsman Roman Vashchuk noted in a report at the end of July that "the composition and proportions of complaints for the second quarter of 2023 too closely resemble the statistics of the fourth quarter of 2021, i.e., the last months before the full-scale war."
"Is it a sign of stabilization and resilience of Ukraine's economy? Perhaps... But it also reflects the stability of pathologies in the Ukrainian business climate: unpredictable 'mowing down' of taxes, formal touches on criminal cases, adjustments to the customs value of goods, regardless of full documentation," stated the business ombudsman.
According to him, certain hopes are linked to President Volodymyr Zelensky's meeting with the business community, which took place at the end of June this year. During the meeting, the pressure of law enforcement on businesses was discussed, as well as the need for the concentration of economic powers in a single law enforcement agency. However, the necessity of rebooting the Bureau of Economic Security after two years since its inception indicates deeper and broader systemic problems, according to Vashchuk.
"In light of these long-standing challenges - especially to create conditions for recovery after the victory - it is necessary to find common ground between businesses, fiscal authorities, and law enforcement - both literally and metaphorically," emphasized the business ombudsman.
