You're reading: Yanukovych calls for higher property taxes

Ukraine should introduce appropriate taxes on real estate, Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych has said.

 “This symbolic tax should turn into a major source for pumping up local budgets and a tool to limit speculation in real estate,” the presidential Web site quoted Yanukovych as saying while addressing tax officers on the occasion of their professional day on Monday.

Yanukovych also said that the list of excisable goods should be extended. First of all, the goods that are dangerous to human health should be included onto the list, the president said without specifying the goods in question.

The head of state also spoke of the need to introduce tax on luxury goods. “A bill regulating this matter is being constantly finalized, and at present its implementation has been halted. Meanwhile, many countries have been applying such a tax, which is of anti-crisis character, for a long while,” Yanukovych added.