The alignment of excise taxes to EU levels continues in Ukraine. The next step will be to increase excise tax on fuel, followed by tobacco products. This was reported in the Committee of the Verkhovna Rada on financial, tax and customs issues, where they supported the government bill on this matter.
Deputy chairman of the parliamentary commission on finance issues, Yaroslav Zheleznyak, provided the information. According to his words, the bill №11265 titled “On Amendments to the Tax Code of Ukraine regarding the alignment of Ukrainian legislation to EU legislation in terms of excise tax” has been fully worked through.
Old faces in a new way
Zheleznyak comments that a very ambiguous situation has arisen with the excise tax on gas. A slight increase was planned, however at the last moment, Rostislav Shurma, who is part of “UkrNafta”, proposed an increase from 70 euros to 277 euros. This politician is the Deputy Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, and prior to that was the General Director of the “Zaporizhstal” plant, which he held as a representative of the “Party of Regions” from the Donetsk regional council.
But information about who initiated such a jump in excise taxes was difficult for journalists to uncover. The Ministry of Finance responded that it does not understand how this happened. A thorough examination of the documents helped to reveal the truth.
The only consolation is the deferral of the increase in excise taxes. It will not take place now, but in January 2028 and will reach such levels:
- various brands of gasoline – 395 euros per 1,000 liters;
- diesel fuel – 330 euros per 1,000 liters;
- liquefied gas – 277 euros per 1,000 liters.
Careful: smoking kills your salary!
The second change concerns cigarettes, as discussed in Bill No. 11090. It is also planned to be implemented from January 1, 2028. The main changes concern the fact that the excise tax on this group of goods will now be tied not to the hryvnia, but to the euro.
But there are also a number of nuances:
- In the current year (2024), even tying to the hryvnia will increase the size of the excise tax if there is a significant devaluation of the national currency, which is highly likely;
- In 2025, the excise tax will be increased by 23%, and then another 5% will be added annually.
The main goal is to increase budget revenues through the receipt of excise tax from tobacco products for such amounts:
- 2025 – 612 million UAH;
- 2026 – 5 billion UAH;
- 2027 – 9.3 billion UAH;
- 2028 – 13.8 billion UAH.
Skeptics believe that a significant increase in prices will reduce the sale of tobacco products and increase the number of illegal producers who will not pay excise taxes. But this should be controlled by the state. Some note that the jump in cigarette prices should reduce the number of Ukrainian smokers, but, as practice shows, this should not be expected: in such cases, people who have this harmful habit begin to choose lower quality and cheaper goods, saving on something else up to food products.
