Ukraine's Verkhovna Rada has passed at first reading the idea of providing large tax benefits to industrial parks, in particular, zero profit tax for the first five years, annulment of imports duty and the five-year period for paying VAT in installments.

A total of 227 lawmakers backed bill No. 2554-a-d amending the Tax Code of Ukraine regarding development of Ukrainian industry via stimulation of investment attraction to the real economic sector with the help of industrial parks on Tuesday.

"The bill envisages the specifics of temporary taxation: exemption from paying profit tax for five years and the half of profit tax for another five years, lifting of imports duty on industrial equipment and the five-year period for paying VAT on imported industrial equipment in installments," the author of the document and head of the parliamentary committee for industrial policy and entrepreneurship Viktor Halasiuk said.

Head of the parliamentary committee for tax and customs policy Nina Yuzhanina added that the document contains the exhaustive list of criteria applied to the participants of industrial parks, in particular, requirements to the sum of revenues from economic operations and at least 30 workers with wages more than three minimum wages in the company.

Lawmakers from Samopomich and Batkivschyna criticized the document, saying it was corrupt and would create anti-competitive schemes to avoid taxation.