Sienkevych hopes that ₴3.4 billion of Mykolaiv's military income tax, which went to the state budget, will be spent on drones and weapons

The military personal income tax withdrawn from the budget of Mykolaiv will be directed to the manufacture of weapons, in particular, drones for the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

This was announced by the mayor Oleksandr Sienkevych during a press conference on Thursday, January 4, NikVesti reports.

Oleksandr Sienkevych reported that the budget of Mykolaiv lost 3.4 billion hryvnias of income due to the withdrawal of the military personal income tax, because of this, for example, the city will not be able to finance the program for the purchase of housing for military personnel.

However, the mayor of the city noted the readiness of Mykolaiv to financially assist the Armed Forces of Ukraine, if possible.

«Today, we will help military personnel in the form of personal income tax, which will not arrive in Mykolaiv. Let me remind you that this amount is 3.4 billion hryvnias for 2023-2024. It was promised by the state that this money will be sent in a 50-50 division to drones and weapons, so we will see. Imagine that in each of these drones and weapons, the authorities of Mykolaiv are 3.4 billion hryvnias. If it will be so, then we will be happy about it. We have money from the reserve fund, there are funds left from 23023, we will be able to help, but not in the amount that was,» said Oleksandr Sienkevych.

Earlier, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated that Ukraine plans to create one million drones for the military in 2024. In addition, the country will increase the production of shells for artillery.

Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal also stated that personal income tax from the military will be directed to the production of Ukrainian military equipment, and a large part will go to support the «Army of Drones». This includes both the purchase of ready-made drones and the production of Ukrainian drones at Ukrainian enterprises.

We will remind you that due to the removal of personal income tax (PIT), which is paid by military personnel, the budget of Mykolaiv this year will lack about 740 million hryvnias.

As you know, within the framework of the law «On the state budget for 2024», the Cabinet of Ministers plans to direct all revenues from the personal income tax of military personnel, 64% of which currently remain in local budgets, to the state budget. The Association of Cities of Ukraine believes that these funds will most likely be dissolved in the state budget, as well as 36% of the current personal income tax, which is administered by the Ministry of Finance. We are talking about 25.8 billion hryvnias this year and 93.7 billion hryvnias next year, Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal clarified the day before.

The budget of Mykolaiv will thus lose 2.7 billion hryvnias, the mayor of the city Oleksandr Sienkevych said.

The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine can allocate over 517 million hryvnias to the communities of the Mykolaiv region to compensate for the loss of personal income tax from military income.

On October 6, it was reported that the Budget Committee of the Verkhovna Rada reviewed the decision on the draft law on personal income tax from the military and made amendments: from October 1 to December 31, 2023, the «military» personal income tax is directed to the state budget in a ratio of 50% to 50%. One part of 13 billion hryvnias will go to the State Service for Special Communications and Information Protection of Ukraine for drones, and the second part, also 13 billion hryvnias, will be directed to the Ministry of Defense for the purchase of artillery systems.