Perechyn scandal: the authorities cannot work with the business?

 A new scandal between the local authorities and the largest business in the district is brewing in Perechyn. The mayor of Perechyn Ivan Pohorilyak accuses Perechyn Wood Chemical Plant of land tax evasion. In turn, the company’s administration accuse the city authorities of illegally inflating the rates for land lease and requires to bring them in line with those applied in other cities of Transcarpathia.

 Ivan Pohorilyak argues that if the court uphelds the PWCP’s claim, the city budget will lose UAH 2.4 million, so he asks townspeople to support him and come to the hearing.

"I remind that for almost a year, they (PWCP – auth.) have been trying to have the tax rate reduced. According to estimates of experts, if the claim of the PWCP is upheld, the city budget for 2016 will be charged UAH 2.4 million. The same amount the city budget will be short of in 2017. This is a very significant amount for Perechyn.As for the article, I will say this: paying taxes is a duty, not a sop from oligarchs.

Second, Perechyn citizens are represented in the city council by the deputies who adopted the relevant decision. By the way, the rate of 10% was recommend by the CMU. As for environment protection, no need to argue that the plant does not harm people. In addition, in the article, the management of the aforementioned company say outright lie that the decision has not been made public" – the online publication "Prozak" quotes the mayor of Perechyn.

 Also, the mayor published the article from tomorrow’s local newspaper where the plant management give their views on this issue. It is still not clear how he did it, perhaps the mayor receives the newspaper before it is printed.

"The PWCP does not agree with the rate of land tax set by Perechyn city council decision adopted in flagrant breach of current legislation. In June 2016 (in the process of drafting the decision on setting rates for 2017), the company appealed to the City Council asking to set an adequate rate with the examples relevant tax rates in other districts of Transcarpathian region, where local authorities apply a differentiated approach (depending on land categories), and where the rates for producers do not exceed 6%; the company’s appeal was ignored," – the statement of the plant administration reads.

According to the company, they employ more than 800 residents of the city and Perechyn district. And the average salary at the plant is 8500 UAH, on which taxes are paid to Perechyn city budget.

Perechyn Wood Chemical Plant is the major payer of taxes to the city budget, so the authorities try to get as much taxed from the company as possible. On the other hand, this situation shows that the local authorities can not find common ground with the business, which affects the community. Hardly anyone wins, if the major budget revenue generating enterprise closes its operations. Then, Perechyn will lose millions hryvnia and hundreds of jobs.