Attendees of the Mind Entrepreneur Summit 2024, where people in goose costumes and T-shirts "Touch me - don't touch business!" took part, said in a poll by UNN that they support this performance because they feel pressure from the tax authorities and their alleged "shadow curator" - the head of the Rada's tax committee, Danylo Hetmantsev.
At the Mind Entrepreneur Summit 2024, a conference for small and medium-sized businesses where Hetmantsev was scheduled to speak, people dressed as geese with the inscription "Touch me, don't touch the business!" came . This is probably a reference to Hetmantsev's famous phrase : "What is proper taxation? It is the art of plucking a goose without it screaming." After the broadcast of the recording of Hetmantsev's address began, the "geese" began to walk around the hall in a demonstrative manner, and then turned their backs on Hetmantsev.
"I believe that entrepreneurs are perhaps the only driving force that moves Ukraine forward, and therefore, if not dust should be blown off entrepreneurs, then at least they should not be interfered with. It is very short-sighted of the state or representatives of the state to even allow such quotes (Hetmantsev's statement that taxation is the art of plucking geese so that they do not scream - ed.
In addition, entrepreneurs note that the government should work to increase trust in the tax service.
"I really believe that the situation with the tax authorities can be better, can be more effective, and if Mr. Hetmantsev is responsible for this, I can honestly say that this is an ineffective story," said Ihor Liski, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Effective Investments Group (EFI Group).
At the same time, according to the interviewed entrepreneurs, they feel pressure from the tax authorities to block tax invoices and put their companies on the risk list.
"I saw the action and I saw people (in goose costumes - ed.)... yes, we have been experiencing this (pressure - ed.) every year for the last few years regarding the blocking of tax invoices," entrepreneur Maksym Katsevych.
According to him, the tax authorities have no reason to suspend business operations and communication between entrepreneurs and the State Tax Service is complicated, as the tax authorities do not answer questions from business representatives about the reasons for blocking tax invoices. As a result, businesses cannot respond quickly to such actions.
"For example, in my experience, we have faced the fact that more than 50 tax invoices, unfortunately, have been blocked irrevocably, so we have lost part of our client base because our clients refused to work with us," Katsevych added.
In addition, entrepreneurs note that there is currently quite a lot of pressure on business in all areas, including IT.
"In my commercial understanding, this is still pressure, because if more economic freedom (for business - ed.) was given, I think more IT companies would open in Ukraine, attract more investments, more client and Western capital, and thus our budget would be replenished more," said one of the interviewed entrepreneurs.
He recommended that the authorities ease the tax burden on businesses, give them more freedom, especially IT businesses, so that it would be profitable for entrepreneurs to stay in Ukraine and pay taxes here.
Add
Hetmantsev's speech was originally planned to be offline, lasting about half an hour. However, during the summit itself, it became known that the audience would be shown a recorded video address by the head of the Rada's tax committee. After the broadcast of Hetmantsev's speech began, the "geese" began to walk around the hall and demonstratively turned their backs to the screen.
Recall
Earlier, users criticized the organizers for inviting Hetmantsev to the summit for business. They believed that his upcoming speech there was "like inviting Putin to a conference on the restoration of Ukraine.