The Tax Policy During the Wartime and Its Impact on the Local Budget Revenues

Abstract

The easing of tax legislation after the outbreak of war was aimed at supporting business and ensuring the functioning of the economy. However, its impact on local budget revenues was ambiguous. Some changes to the tax legislation during martial law had a negative impact on local budget revenues, while others had the opposite effect. The purpose of the article is to identify the impact of tax policy on the formation of local budget revenues during the wartime and to assess the prospects for filling local budgets with tax revenues in the short term. The publication characterizes the tax changes introduced after the outbreak of war in terms of taxes that have a direct impact on the formation of local budget revenues – personal income tax, single tax, land payment, tax on real estate other than land, excise tax on fuel, alcohol and tobacco products. The authors analyze the tendency in changes in tax revenues of local budgets by region. It is found that the introduced tax changes have had a negative impact on local budget revenues from property tax (land payment, tax on real estate other than land, transport tax) and from excise tax on fuel. At the same time, the growth of tax revenues from personal income tax, single tax, and excise tax on alcohol and tobacco products in total ensured a 13.5% increase in local budget revenues compared to the previous pre-war year. However, against the background of the overall growth of local budget revenues, there was a decline in tax revenues in the regions, some parts of which remain under russian military occupation (Zaporizhzhia, Kharkiv, Kherson, Donetsk, and Luhansk regions). The authors critically assess and substantiate the prospects for filling local budgets with tax revenues in the short term. In the near future, we can expect an increase in tax revenues of local budgets, given the possible abolition of «tax relaxations» against the background of the successes of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, which positively affect the business expectations of enterprises and intensification of their business activities.

Keywords

• local budget
• war
• single tax
• personal income tax
• property tax