Arseniy Yatsenyuk: SST fell to 16%, the state has made an incredible step and expects from business certain steps towards people

The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine approved the submitted by the Government and agreed by the parliamentary coalition law on reform of the mandatory state social insurance and legalization of the payroll (No. 1573), which provides for the reduction of a single social tax from 41% to 16%.

Prime Minister of Ukraine Arseniy Yatsenyuk, while introducing the bill in the Parliament, stressed an extremely constructive position of the deputy factions in the process of the finalizing and introducing the key proposals to this bill.

The PM emphasized that the rate of the single social tax amounting 41% is an excessive burden on the salary “and it, in any way, contributes neither an employer nor an employee to legalization of salary”.

A significant decrease in the SST rate, he said, may lead to the risk to fail in obtaining relevant income, "and we can have a hole in the Pension Fund”, “But we believe that the Ukrainian business that wants to have simplified conditions to do business, will accept our joint offer and start to legalize and bring out of the shadows the wages - through a significant and radical reduction of the single social contribution", he stressed.

"The state, on its part, has done an incredible step - the reduction of the single social contribution from 41% to 16%. And we believe our business, that the business will make a step towards not the state, but the people - as it implies revenues of the Pension Fund, reimbursement of pensions and other social benefits, and legalization of wages, leads them out into a transparent mechanism, it will cease paying them in envelopes, using tax pits and thus to evade taxes and to deprive citizens of Ukraine of appropriate provision of pensions. As today the payment of wages in envelopes means that tomorrow people will live for a minimum pension, instead of the pension that they actually earned," explained Arseniy Yatsenyuk.

"We will calculate every thing. There will be certain difficulties in administration. But it's a true reform, a strong reform. And the success of this reform depends on the true intentions of the business and on a comprehensive dialogue between the government and the business", stressed the Head of Government.

Arseniy Yatsenyuk noted that if we have warnings from the international financial creditors regarding this law, it will be revised, "But I hope that we will be able to prove the correct nature of this model and will be able to increase the revenues of the Pension Fund”.

The Verkhovna Rada adopted bill No. 1573 with the proposals of the parliamentary factions of the coalition.