You're reading: Yanukovych vetoes tax code after protests

Nov. 30 (Reuters) - Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych scrapped on Tuesday a new tax code that has provoked protests by small business owners who said it would bankrupt them.

"I vetoed (it) today," Yanukovych told reporters after a government meeting.

A new version of the bill could be drafted with representatives of small businesses and submitted to parliament by Dec. 2, he said.

Daily protests against the tax code, which would have made thousands of entrepreneurs no longer eligible for tax breaks, have become the biggest display of public discontent since Yanukovich’s election last February.

The rallies have coincided with the sixth anniversary of Ukraine’s "Orange Revolution" — a series of protests that led to the failure of Yanukovich’s first bid for the presidency in 2004 — and were seen as his first major political challenge.