Klitschko is using Chernovetsky’s plans to launder illegal income, experts
Kyiv, November 10 (Navigator, Vladimir Mikhailov) – The current Kyiv government is not interested in sources of income for the city treasury, experts say.
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“At the meeting on November 4 in Kiev City Council, only 10% of Kyiv’s budget was discussed. The main sources of money that lie in the general fund, where the main corruption risks and the main money - billions of hryvnias - remained without the attention of the city authorities,” said Ivan Sikora, director of the Open Society Foundation, an expert on budgetary and anti-corruption policy.
“It’s just funny - when people come to power, they know what needs to be done, and when they come to power, they start looking for reasons why not to do it. The new team promised the people of Kiev a new life, but now the same rhetoric is being repeated as that of the “frontrunners” - that the government should leave 100% of the personal income tax in the city budget. At the same time, for some reason, the issues of reduced rent, income from sales and rentals, share contributions from developers, unaccounted for land plots, and “shadow” parking lots are not considered.
The adoption of the General Plan 2025, developed by Chernovetsky’s team to legalize illegal income, is a crime against the people of Kiev and will lead to a decrease in budget revenues - due to the fact that the residential area increases, which is taxed at lower rates - 0,1% than others types of land (from 3 to 12%). This is how they actually steal money from Kiev residents. In addition, this worsens their living conditions due to densification of buildings and a decrease in the area of green areas.
We are also concerned that Klitschko, who promised to oppose this plan, actually supports it,” said Ivan Sikora.
The decrease in income threatens to lead to a default in Kyiv. “Kyiv in 2015 is on the verge of default - payments on external debt obligations are higher than the budget revenue,” warns expert in the field of urban planning, candidate of sciences in public administration, member of the Ukrainian Academy of Architecture Viktor Gleba.
Klitschko is taking advantage of Chernovetskyi's plans to legalize illegal income, experts say.