Improvement of the mechanisms of taxation of forest resources of Ukraine to ensure sustainable forest management

Nazakat Musayeva, Nigar Atakishiyeva, Ulkar Mammadova, Nahid Almasov, Maksym Shevchenko
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Abstract

The purpose of the study was to substantiate ways to optimise fiscal mechanisms in the forest sector to increase its economic efficiency and sustainability. A quantitative analysis was carried out based on the reporting data of six enterprises of various forms of ownership (state, municipal, and private), which allowed identifying imbalances in tax pressure. In the public sector, this figure was 31.1%, and in the municipal sector – 26.5%. In the private sector, the tax burden reached 40.1% in the Forest enterprise and 35.2% in the Karpatlis enterprise, which significantly exceeded the indicators of the public sector – 29.3% in Chernihivlishosp, 32.9% in Sumylishosp, and 40.4% in the Forests of Ukraine enterprise. In the municipal enterprise Kharkivlis, the tax burden was 26.5%. The level of profitability in private enterprises was 4.7% in the Forest and 6.0% in Karpatlis, while state-owned enterprises showed stable indicators: 9.1% in Chernihivlishosp, 7.4% in Sumylishosp, and 5.0% in the Forests of Ukraine. Municipal enterprise Kharkivlis showed the highest profitability – 9.7%. The structure of indirect fiscal expenditures was analysed separately, among which the main ones were expenditures on environmental monitoring, forest protection, certification, and reporting. It was established that the share of indirect expenses in the total expenses of enterprises ranged from 5.4% to 11.8%. The risk assessment of tax reforms was carried out on a point scale (from 1 to 10) according to five criteria: legal framework, personnel readiness, business resistance, digitalisation, and fiscal losses. The highest risk profile was recorded in the private sector (average level – 7.4 points), the lowest – in the public sector (4.8 points). The projected effects of the introduction of the adaptive tax model included a reduction in the tax burden by 5.5%, an increase in profitability by 3.2%, investment in reforestation – by 18%, and a decrease in the level of shading by 12.5%. The results of the study can be used to develop a tax policy and support sustainable forest management at the state and enterprise levels

Keywords

economic efficiency; indirect costs; digitalisation of reporting; fiscal regulation; reform risks

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Musayeva, N., Atakishiyeva, N., Mammadova, U., Almasov, N., & Shevchenko, M. (2025). Improvement of the mechanisms of taxation of forest resources of Ukraine to ensure sustainable forest management. Scientific Horizons, 28(8), 179-191. https://doi.org/10.48077/scihor8.2025.179