The United States suggests to raise taxes for companies working with Russia and Belarus

Dana Hordiichuk  —  FRIDAY, 3 JUNE 2022, 13:21

Bills have been registered in the US Congress and Senate to raise taxes for companies working with Russia and Belarus.

This was reported by Yaroslav Zhelizniak, the deputy and the First Deputy Chairman of the Tax Committee of the Verkhovna Rada.

He noted that Congressmen Jared Golden, Don Bacon, Salud Carbajal, Jim Bird and Adam Kinzinger were the authors of the bill "The Support of Ukraine Through Our Tax Code Act". They are part of the "For the Country" caucus, created by veteran congressmen. According to Zhelizniak, they "have repeatedly called for more support for Ukraine and more weapons."

The bill suggests that companies in Russia and Belarus will be equated with companies in North Korea, Iran, Syria and Cuba, which will automatically mean a significant increase in taxes for these companies.

"Russia's war can’t and shouldn’t be financed by taxes paid by American companies," the joint statement said. "It's a policy of common sense: if a company decides to do business in Russia - and, accordingly, pay taxes by financing its military machine - the American people should not pay the bills of such companies."

A similar bill was introduced in the U.S. Senate by the chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, Ron Wyden, and a member of the Finance Committee, Rob Portman.

Background:

In April, the Ukrainian government and parliament called on the EU and the G7 to raise taxes on companies that continue to do business in Russia.
Earlier, on 1 April, the Ukrainian parliament passed a bill in first reading that would increase the tax rate for businesses that continue to operate in Russia by 50%. However, deputies immediately emphasised that such rules should be working not only in Ukraine: "If the hypothetical Leroy Merlin does not want to leave Russia for moral reasons, we must force it [the company] for economic reasons," - wrote Dmytro Dubilet, banker and businessman.