Oleksandr Danylyuk, one of the organizers of the tax code protest on Independence Square, on Nov. 23 called on supporters to gather on the square each day at 18:00.
"We don’t intend to give any speeches until our demands are met," Danylyuk said. "We are seeking the support of residents of Kyiv to show authorities that the patience of population is ebbing."
Danylyuk said protesters organizers want President Yanukovych to veto the tax code, fire Prime Minister Mykola Azarov and deputy prime ministers Sergiy Tigipko and Borys Kolesnykov, who helped author the bill, along with Mykhailo Brodsky, who heads the State Committee on Entrepreneurship.
Kyiv district administrative court on Nov. 22 banned meetings on Independence Square from Nov. 22-26 because a number of foreign delegations are expected to visit Ukraine’s capital during this period.
One group of protest organizers have made four demands:
1. Veto the tax code.
2. Cancel the single social tax.
3. Cancel the pension fund tax for people paying a simple flat tax.
4. Dismissal of Prime Minister Mykola Azarov and deputy prime ministers Sergei Tigipko and Borys Kolesnykov.
The group said it would accept a higher single flat tax, but insists on eliminating social and pension fund taxes.
Another group of protest organizers representing trade union members have made addition demands:
1. Pass a law, according to which the minimum living wage is determined by a National Council of social partnership managed by trade union leaders, employers and government authorities. Pensions should not be taxed.
2. Minimum pensions should be raised to the level of the minimum living wage.
3. Social and value-added taxes for those paying simple flat tax should be lowered.
4. A special section of the tax code providing a simplified system for calculating revenue and outlays for small business owners engaged in trade, construction, service industries and agriculture, should be drafted.
5. Ukraine’s oppressive tax-collecting state organ, the State Tax Administration, which is notoriously corrupt, must be reformed.
6. Immediate compliance with international obligations for transfering regulation of economic activities to self-governing entrepreneur associations.
7. The Cabinet of Ministers must be dismissed for authoring the tax code adopted on Nov. 18 by parliament.
8. Harassment of the organizers of nationwide protests against the new tax code must end.
