Belarus abolished tax on parasites and figured out how to make them work - ForumDaily
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Belarus abolished tax on parasites and figured out how to make them work

Фото: Depositphotos

25 January President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko signed a decree "On the promotion of employment of the population." The document will replace the decree, which in 2015, obliged those who work less than 183 days in a year to pay a special tax. He was immediately called the "tax for parasites." The new document cancels this tax, but instead it introduces the obligation to pay the full cost of "state-subsidized services" - this is, for example, payment for housing and communal services. But this norm will not be easy to implement, writes “Jellyfish".

How in Belarus came the tax for "parasites"

In 2013, Mikhail Myasnikovich - then the Prime Minister of Belarus, said that about 450 thousand people in the country (the population of Belarus 9,5 million people) do not work anywhere, “do not make any contribution to the development of the economy and enjoy social benefits”. After that, Belarusian officials several times discussed how to make such people work and pay taxes. President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko summed up in 2014: “By any means that we know and can do, we must make these people work!”.

In April, 2015, Lukashenko signed Decree No. 3 “On the Prevention of Social Dependency”. He was called a decree on "parasites" - by analogy with the Soviet decree 1961 of the year, which required to attract people "without a specific occupation" to socially useful work. According to the decree, people who worked less than 183 days in a year and were not officially registered for unemployment had to pay a special tax once a year. Then he was 3,6 million Belarusian rubles (about 13 thousand Russian rubles).

What was wrong with this tax

Notifications from the tax inspectorate that they need to pay a “tax on parasitism,” received about 470 thousands of Belarusians; only 50 paid thousands of people. Sometimes notifications came to those who were not “parasite” - for example, disabled people, women on maternity leave, conscripts. In social networks and opposition media published a portrait of a woman crying at a reception at the officials of the commission on the issues of "parasitism". The heroine of the picture, Valentina Chernyshova, a resident of Rogachev, ended up in “parasites” because she did not have nine days before the necessary 183s.

Gradually, decree number 3 became in Belarus one of the most discussed - and condemned - legislative acts of recent years. Lukashenko made concessions and said that the document would be finalized. And indeed, in January 2017, a norm appeared in it, exempting those who are “in a difficult life situation” from paying the tax. It was entrusted to local authorities to determine whether this or that situation is difficult enough.

February and March 2017 in Belarus Passed a series of protests against the decree on "parasites". In the “March of disgruntled Belarusians” 17 February in Minsk was attended by about two thousand people (such protests have not been here since 2010 year). They demanded to abolish the tax and burned notifications from the tax inspectorate. Similar performances - “marches of non-Unions”, took place in many cities of Belarus.

In early March, 2017, Lukashenko instructed for a year to suspend the collection of tax from "parasites". Those who have already paid, began to return the money. The demonstrations did not stop, then, in response, the authorities severely dispersed the rally during Freedom Day in Minsk, about 700 people were detained, about 150 of them were fined or arrested.

What do they want from unemployed Belarusians now?

Lukashenko has signed an updated version of the “decree on parasitism” 25 January. Suspending the tax collection, the Belarusian president promised only to verify the lists of those who should pay it. However, he actually signed another document - Decree No. 1 “On the Promotion of Employment”. From January 1 2019, non-working citizens will have to pay the full cost of "state-subsidized services."

Belarusian officials have already said that the new decree, like the previous one, will stimulate employment. It remains unknown whether the criteria for entering the “parasites” will change. There is no exact information about what services 100% of their cost will have to be paid for. The government will clarify this in the coming months. According to the deputy of the Belarusian parliament Tamara Krasovskaya, who participated in the development of the decree number 1, it is a question of one hundred percent reimbursement of utility costs (now Belarusians pay about 70% of their cost, the rest is compensated by the state). Belarusian experts believe that this decree will be difficult to implement. For example, it is unclear how the "parasite" will pay the full cost of utility services if other people live in an apartment with him - and they work as usual.

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