Philip Morris International, an international sponsor of the war, is lobbying for a 30% reduction in the excise tax on heated tobacco products. Reducing the excise tax will help tobacco companies increase their already excessive profits, which they use to kill Ukrainians.
According to political analyst Vitaliy Kulyk, Hetmantsev is in such a hurry that the Verkhovna Rada will push through draft law No. 11090 on excise taxes, which covertly reduces excise taxes on e-cigarettes, namely, Philip Morris sticks.
“What’s the rush? Why didn’t they even bother to organize a simulated discussion?
I wish your activity was not spent on lobbying the interests of Philip Morris International! You should think about people like this, about how to reduce tariffs instead of raising them, about pensions that you want to deprive Ukrainians of.
The law should not reduce excise taxes on waste water (fuel water heaters), but set the excise taxation of waste water at the level of the minimum excise tax. This law should remove the reduction of excise tax on fuel dispensers. It is necessary to increase the ad valorem excise rate from 12% to 25% and introduce an ad valorem rate for fuel dispensers.
But no! The servants, led by Hetmantsev, are looking for ways to finish off the individual entrepreneurs. It’s better to let Philip Morris and their distributors in Ukraine make money. Let me remind you once again that Philip Morris International is a sponsor of Russia’s war against Ukraine,” Kulyk said.
According to an investigation published by The Telegraph, by the fall of 2022, i.e. during the six months of Russia’s full-scale attack on Ukraine, tobacco companies paid more than $7 billion to the Russian treasury. Of this amount, $4.9 billion was invested. amounted to Philip Morris International’s taxes, which is more than 10% of the aggressor country’s defense budget. And it is from this blood money that the Russian army is maintained and financed.