KIEV Ukraine AP Ukraine's opposition-dominated parliament voted without dissent Tuesday to override President Leonid Kuchma's veto on a law that forbids the president from setting taxes and granting exemptions. The Verkhovna Rada voted 342-0 with one abstention to annul Kuchma's veto the latest in a series of parliamentary blows to the president. Kuchma argued that the law could decrease budget revenues because it would not allow the president to change excise and import taxes if and when necessary and that it would require a long cumbersome procedure for changing tax legislation. Serhiy Teriokhin of the Rada's finance committee urged parliament on Tuesday to override Kuchma's veto because Ukraine's constitution grants lawmakers exclusive rights to determine federal tax rates and benefits. Kuchma has often used constitutional loopholes to pass economic decisions he said were necessary to push through reforms in the former Soviet republic. In response Kuchma's leftist and centrist opponents in parliament have moved recently to adopt several laws that significantly limit his powers. Earlier this month parliament voted to approve changes to the budgetary system law annulling a provision that allows the president to stop or limit state spending on certain budget articles. The lawmakers said the provision also contradicted Ukraine's constitution. Kuchma refused to sign the new version of the law. The latest legislative changes preceded debates on Ukraine's 1999 draft budget expected to start in parliament on Wednesday and appeared to be an attempt to deprive Kuchma of the possibility of introducing unexpected changes in the budget. The Rada is demanding serious changes to the Cabinet's draft budget in particular reducing the already tiny planned deficit and boosting revenues to allow more spending for social needs. sms/adc APW19981201.1013.txt.body.html APW19981201.1198.txt.body.html