Tax decentralization as a key factor in the development of the local government system in Ukraine

Abstract

The relevance of the topic is due to the fact that with the beginning of the full-scale aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine, the role and importance of local governments in ensuring the vital activity of communities has increased significantly, and their participation in the post-war recovery of Ukraine is becoming extremely important. Under such circumstances, the idea of tax decentralization has become widespread in academic and expert circles and among legislators. The purpose of the article is to highlight scientific, expert and legislative approaches to tax decentralization, to determine its impact on the development of local government, and to outline further prospects in this area. The following research methods were used in writing the article: description, comparative analysis, analogies, and logical generalization. The views of experts and scientists on tax decentralization are summarized. Attention is focused on the problem of tax debt collection from taxpayers who have no signs of economic activity, in particular, no assets to repay the debt or taxpayers are in bankruptcy proceedings. It is noted that due to the significant time and financial costs associated with debt collection from individuals, there is a need to amend tax legislation to expand the powers of local governments in the field of tax administration, which will facilitate the repayment of tax debt arising from non-payment of local taxes and fees by individual taxpayers. The author outlines potential areas for expanding the functions of local government bodies in the administration of local taxes and fees, including digitalization of real estate data, providing local authorities with access to tax information on objects and subjects of property taxation, consolidating the grounds for inspections by regulatory authorities based on information from local government bodies, and providing access to all data on objects located on the territory of a local community. That the implementation of these measures will the transparency and efficiency of the process of administering taxes and fees, which may have a positive impact not only on local budget revenues but also on the activities of business entities.