Rada to consider 2026 state budget on Wed after compromise on teachers, 4% personal income tax on local budgets

The Budget Committee of the Verkhovna Rada on Wednesday, after consultations, recommended that the Verkhovna Rada adopt the draft state budget of Ukraine for 2026 in the second reading and as a whole; a hearing of the draft in the session hall is expected on Wednesday, said the head of the Budget Committee Roksolana Pidlasa (Servant of the People faction) and committee member Oleksiy Honcharenko (European Solidarity).

"The Budget Committee voted to recommend that the Rada adopt the budget in the second reading," Honcharenko wrote in Telegram.

According to him and Pidlasa, the main change proposed by the committee is to add 4% of personal income tax (PIT) revenues to local budgets, that is, to leave 64% of PIT at their disposal, and to establish a targeted allocation of these additional funds for making payments for energy carriers and for repaying debts from the difference in energy tariffs (if any).

The Head of the Budget Committee added that accordingly, the subvention for the difference in tariffs, which was provided for local budgets in the amount of UAH 15.2 billion, is excluded.

In addition, according to her, agreements have been reached on allocating UAH 1 billion for the purchase of weapons and military equipment to the Ministry of Defense by withdrawing from the "military reserve" program and UAH 244 million to the Bureau of Economic Security by withdrawing from the Reserve Fund.

"The increase in teachers' salaries remains: from January 1 - by 30% and from September 1 - by another 20% WITHOUT any changes in approaches to paying teachers. At the same time, it is proposed to add UAH 4.8 billion to the program for the prestige of the work of pedagogical workers in order to be able to consider a further increase in teachers' salaries during the year," Pidlasa said.