Institute of Sociology NASU

THE READINESS OF THE POPULATION OF UKRAINE TO ACCEPT A PROGRESSIVE TAXATION SYSTEM

stmm. 2022 (1): 29-44

DOI https://doi.org/10.15407/sociology2022.01.029

NATALIIA LAVRINENKO, Candidate of Sciences in Philosophy, Senior Research Fellow at the Department of Social Structures, Institute of Sociology, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine (12, Shovkovychna St., Kyiv, 01021)

natasmirnoff@gmail.com

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8784-3785

The article analyzes the degree of rapprochement of the Ukrainian state to the welfare state. Particular attention is paid to considering the degree of adoption by the population of Ukraine of the principle of progressive taxation as one of the possible means of reducing social inequality in society. The empirical basis used to analyze public opinion on this issue is the annual monitoring surveys conducted by the Institute of Sociology of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine and data from the module "Social Inequality" under the International Social Research Program (ISSP, 2019).

Despite the fact that almost all respondents believe that the income gap between rich and poor is too large in Ukraine and that high-income people have to pay "much higher taxes", the introduction of progressive taxation is now not initiated by political leaders or broad-based masses of the population. In general, it can be concluded that not many respondents are aware of the internal content of progressive taxation, only a quarter of them choose the most important principle for this type of tax: "The state should promote the well-being of as many people as possible," it is this meaning that explains and justifies the need to introduce progressive taxation in Ukraine. Such ambivalence of the consciousness of the population is also manifested in the adherence to the principles of government, which focus on individualism and libertarian development of the country's economy and which are poorly combined with the introduction of progressive taxation.

In Ukraine, political parties are mostly organized under a certain oligarchic politician and financed by him, so the introduction of progressive taxation is contrary to their business interests and is generally ignored. It is concluded that the smoothing of social inequality through the redistribution of income between different social groups through progressive taxation and the state budget has not yet become a principle of state social policy and conscious choice of the population.

Keywords: Welfare state, rule of law, social inequality, progressive taxation.

References

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Received 08.11.2021