King’s College London’s expert to present report on major reforms to Ukrainian MPs

The report, Taxpayer Compliance and Ukraine’s Economic Recovery, was authored by Dr Marc Berenson, from King’s College London, and Valeriia Novak in partnership with the Ukrainian Parliamentary Institute (UPI) and forms part of a wider project that examines the past, present, and future of Ukraine’s tax and economic policy.

Members of the Ukrainian parliament and leading policymakers will receive a copy of the report in the coming weeks, and a hybrid seminar is planned for this summer in Kyiv to allow the leaders of the project to meet and discuss its findings with MPs and government representatives.

Among the key recommendations, the report authors call for renewed efforts to build trust in the state’s tax system, improve education and outreach with taxpayers, enhance transparency, and introduce new oversight measures.

The report also examines the impact of the war on the tax system, assesses the measures taken so far to keep the system running, and offers insight into what might be improved both while the war continues and when it comes to an end.

The results from the Ukraine Taxpayer Compliance Attitudinal Surveys, undertaken since 2005 by Dr Berenson with the Kyiv-based Razumkov Centre are also included in the report, and the most recent wave illustrates a dramatic shift in Ukrainians’ support for citizen obligations and willingness to co-operate with the state compared to all earlier waves of the survey.

Whereas in the 2005-2020 surveys, only some 36 to 45 per cent of Ukrainians consistently voiced support for obeying tax laws, in 2022 some 64 per cent agreed to obey the state’s tax laws even if they were deemed unfair (despite some 69 per cent seeing a decline in their family incomes since the war began).