Several tens of thousand Ukrainian taxpayers, many of them running small businesses, protested outside parliament on Tuesday, urging deputies to vote down a proposed tax code that they say will hurt their livelihood.The ex-Soviet republic is preparing to reform its notoriously ineffective tax system in an effort to cut its budget deficit in line with targets set by the International Monetary Fund, which is extending it a $15 billion bail-out.

The new tax code, to which parliament was giving a final reading on Tuesday, makes a number of companies and entrepreneurs no longer eligible for a simplified system that has allowed them to pay a single, relatively low tax rate.