Belarus fights parasitism: how does it affect Belarusian Americans?

President of the Republic of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko. Photo: Depositphotos

Just a couple of weeks ago, my friend’s daughter in Belarus received a “letter of happiness” - an official document from the tax office, which said that the recipient was a parasite. The family was surprised and began to figure out why the child suddenly had such “happiness” - the girl was studying, working. Everything seems to be fine. But no, the guards of order and taxes are not asleep - they have calculated everything. The girl graduated from school in 2015 and could not find a job for quite a long time. This means she didn’t repay the debt to the state, didn’t pay taxes...

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With all the iron arguments of the tax department, the family did not let it go and decided to learn more about the law. That's what it turned out.

In 2015, the Belarusian authorities introduced the so-called tax on parasitism. The decree has a frightening name - “On the Prevention of Social Dependency.” Having delved into the history of the USSR, you can see that the government of Belarus in this case did not come up with anything new to receive additional funds from the population for the budget, since such an article, starting from the 60s, already existed in the domestic system.

Reluctance to work for the benefit of the Fatherland, or simply parasitism, in the USSR was a criminal offense punishable by up to 5 years of restriction of freedom. However, the law did not apply to everyone. The “chosen ones” were alcoholics, dissidents and people of creative professions (writers, artists, sculptors, etc.). Retribution occurred if a person did not work for more than 4 months. However, as soon as he worked for at least a day or two, the law no longer applied to him (which is what many took advantage of - he “worked” for a day, quit the next day - and everything is in order for the next 15 weeks).

In 90-x, this decree was canceled and it was replaced by another, legalizing unemployment. They lagged behind the citizens, they say, this is your own business, comrades, to work or not.

But a decade and a half has passed, and the “boomerang” is back.

The modern version of the fight against parasitism in Belarus looks like this: if you don’t work, you pay.

The country's Constitution states that forced labor is prohibited, and the decree on dependents does not contradict it, since it still does not deprive citizens of the right to be unemployed. With a small caveat... you need to pay no less for this right - about $300. And if you don’t pay, then the tax department has the right to punish you - to bring you to administrative responsibility for committing an administrative offense. To put it simply, fine them (if they can’t be arrested) or send them to community service to pay off the debt.

Payment Notification

Reference. Exempt from paying tax on parasitism:

• those who were not 2015 years old in 18 (or just turned);

• those who have reached retirement age in 2015 or have already retired by this time;

• disabled people of all groups;

• those citizens who stayed in the country for less than six months (183 day);

• those who were on maternity leave to care for a child;

• individual entrepreneurs;

• those who arrived in the country for permanent residence after 31 March 2015.

By the way, there are other categories that have the right not to pay tax if they provide explanatory documents to the tax office.

My friend’s daughter just turned 2015 in 18, and according to the law, the tax on parasites should not apply to her. Plus, she didn’t work for a fairly short period of time - she couldn’t find a job, although she even applied to the labor exchange. She was not accepted there because there were no places. But then she was lucky to find a job. Friends collected all the evidence and sent it to the tax office Inspection, and with the girl safely removed the shameful nickname “parasite.”

At first I watched this story only from the sidelines. But then the “letter of happiness” from the tax office overtook me - I, too, was recognized by the Belarusian authorities as a parasite. Just the other day, a document arrived at my Belarusian address, despite the fact that I have been officially living in America for several years.

Being engaged in writing and working for many years with foreign editors, I was not interested in tax, because my partners in Russia paid taxes for me (in Belarus, double taxation is prohibited by law). In 2015, I was just about to emigrate to the States and stopped working for a while. This did not escape the keen eyes of the tax inspectors, and they decided to “make happy” me too.

It was then that I had to scrupulously figure out what to do in this situation. I climbed up to look for information about how we, the emigrants, get rid of the stigma of the people. It turns out that citizens of Belarus are not credited with the status of “state dependent” and are not forced to pay tax if they have a passport of a Belarusian citizen permanently residing outside the country (PP series), and also if he or she was in Belarus in a calendar year less than 183 days, that is less than six months. True, all this must be proved.

Evidence can serve as plane tickets; ID confirming residence in the United States; if there is, then documents for housing in the States, and so on. In a word, copies of those documents that confirm the place of the real location of the Belarusian during the calendar year.

In short, I undertook to restore my honest name. I contacted the district tax inspector, and he recommended that I send the following scans of documents by e-mail:

— passport with all customs stamps for 2015;

— marriage certificate (my husband and I got married in 2015);

- green card;

- a driver's license indicating a US address.

To my question about what’s next, he replied: “That’s it, nothing else is needed - this proves your absence from the country.”

In a word, not everything turned out to be so scary, but definitely not very pleasant. In general, the situation is like this: we wanted the best, but it turned out as always. After all, the entire burden of financial responsibility due to the tax on parasites falls not on “asocial elements”, but on people who have not found a decent job in the country and are forced, one way or another, to earn money in other ways.

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