You're reading: Tax protests fizzle out, but organizers plan to launch new ones on Jan. 22

Rallies against adoption of the new tax code fizzled out by Dec. 6, days after parliament passed an amended version of the bill which left the single flat tax in place that benefits millions of small entrepreneurs.

The compromises represented a victory for small-and medium-sized entrepreneurs who rallied nationwide to demand that President Viktor Yanukovych veto the bill.

Yanukovych didn’t completely scrap the bill, as many protestors hoped. But after meeting with them, he sent the bill back to lawmakers on Nov. 30, urging parliament to adopt changes that preserve tax breaks for small businesses. The changes, including a reduction in the powers of tax authorities, were adopted on Dec. 2. One day later, police cordoned off Kyiv’s Independence Square and dismantled a half-dozen protest tents erected by demonstrators.

Some protest organizers said saw the developments as a victory. Others insisted protestors had been duped by the president, who sought to swiftly defuse their protests by temporarily preserving tax privileges for small businesses.

Protesters who wanted to carry on with rallies warned that the revised tax code still had many clauses that were bad for small businesses. Moreover, they said that Yanukovych’s administration made no promises to keep tax privileges for small businesses in place over the long term.

But only several hundred protesters turned out on European Square on Dec. 6 to press their demands, which include a complete overhaul of the tax system, the dismissal of government and parliamentary elections in 2011 rather than 2012.

At their height, crowds of up to 20,000 people gathered across the country in prior weeks. The rallies were the largest demonstration of dissent since Yanukovych since he narrowly won a presidential contest in February.

At the Dec. 6 rally, a small group of protesters was flanked by members of ex-Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko’s minority opposition faction in parliament. Oleksandr Danylyuk, head of the All-Ukrainian Center for Business Support, promised to organize fresh protests starting Jan. 22, Ukraine Collegiality Day, which marks the founding of the Ukrainian National Republic in 1918.

But other tax code protesters said enough was enough.

Vasyl Popik, head of the taxi drivers trade union with 50,000 members across Ukraine, said his group was satisfied with changes made to the tax code to ease the burden on small business.

“The tax code protest has turned political,” Popik said. “The tens of thousands who demanded President Yanukovych veto the bill initially were interested in economic freedom more than political colors. I think that the government has heard us. I’m not completely satisfied with the changes that the government adopted, but some important concessions were made. We can still initiate changes in the tax code, so I would rather now work on a draft law to improve the situation rather than continue on with protests.”

A recent poll by a Kyiv-based pollster, Social Monitoring Center, shows that more than 90 percent of entrepreneurs nationwide supported the demands of the month-long protests. Almost 70 percent of those surveyed said they wanted Yanukovych to veto the bill.

Both Danylyuk and Popik, along with the other protest organizers, were called in for questioning by Kyiv police about alleged violations for erecting a protest camp on Independence Square on Nov. 22. The Kyiv State City Administration’s utilities service said it will cost about $25,000 (Hr 200,000) to replace granite slabs damaged when protesters pitched their tents on the square.

Kyiv Post Staff Writers Katya Grushenko and Peter Byrne can be reached at [email protected] and [email protected].