President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy stands for keeping the tax rate for IT employees at the level of 5%.
"This industry in the country is developed not due to the state, but due to the intelligence of Ukrainians," the President said at a meeting with representatives of IT business in Lviv within a working trip to the region.
He believes that today the state should not interfere in the further development of the industry, but can and should help.
"One of the steps that the state can take is not to increase the tax burden on this industry," Volodymyr Zelenskyy noted.
"The state will always support the IT industry, and taxes will not be above 5%, because we want Ukraine to be such an IT hub in Europe," he added during a conversation with the media, noting that many representatives of leading IT companies from Belarus apply to Ukraine for employment.
The President also noted that he had always treated workers in this field with respect. Today it is one of the few professions that can not only ensure a modern and decent standard of living, but also change the state, help fight corruption.
"It is with digital that we can implement any important reforms. And what everyone is saying: we need honest customs, honest law enforcement agencies, we need to overcome corruption - we all understand that the human factor is very difficult to fix. But digital, the IT industry can do it," the President said.
"We thank you for supporting the IT industry in terms of taxation, and we would like to ask you to continue to provide this support, this 5% tax," Taras Kitsmey, President of IT Ukraine association said.
He also expressed the belief that the IT industry in Ukraine has prospects for development, and maintaining such a tax rate will facilitate the influx of personnel from abroad and ensure the retention of talented professionals in Ukraine. Taras Kitsmey also stated that tax revenues from IT increased by 25% compared to the same period last year.
CEO of the Lviv IT Cluster Stepan Veselovsky told the Head of State that the region has 461 IT companies with more than 25,000 employees.
"It is important that the IT industry in Lviv, and in the country as a whole, creates three additional jobs in related industries, and in fact we can say that it is budget-generating," he said.
In addition, representatives of this industry are working to train high-quality professionals and launch bachelor's programs under which almost three thousand students study in the region at the moment. The average score is from 176 to 194, i.e. the best students study there.
During the conversation, the participants of the meeting also raised the issue of the existence of legislation that would promote the protection of IT specialists. In particular, prevent unjustified seizure of servers and increase the responsibility for such actions. In addition, the protection of intellectual property was discussed.
The President spoke in support of such steps, as the IT sector in Ukraine is one of the most transparent.
"We need to make all these conditions the most attractive for the sector," he said.
