Lukashenka sent for revision the scandalous “law on parasites. Universal employment: in Belarus, the “decree on parasites” was canceled

In Belarus, the collection of the “tax on parasitism” from citizens has been canceled. The President of the Republic, Alexander Lukashenko, signed Decree No. 1 “On the Promotion of Employment of the Population”. According to the new document, public policy will be aimed at stimulating non-working citizens to legal employment. However, experts doubt that the country's authorities will be able to fulfill the task of universal employment - this may be hindered by objective economic circumstances. RT studied new methods of combating parasitism in Belarus.

• Reuters
• Vasily Fedosenko

January 25 President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko No. 1 "On the promotion of employment." This document became the “heir” of Decree No. 3 “On the Prevention of Social Dependency”, which was popularly called the “Decree on Parasites”.

The new document does not provide for the collection of a tax on financing from able-bodied non-working citizens public spending(nicknamed in society "tax on parasites"). At the same time, those who were previously recognized as payers of this fee are exempted from paying it. The new concept, spelled out in Decree No. 1, provides for universal employment.

“The document is aimed primarily at stepping up the work of the authorities to maximize the assistance to citizens in finding employment, stimulating employment and self-employment of the population,” the press service of the President of Belarus indicates.

• Alexander Lukashenko
• Maxim GUCHEK

Commissions of local importance

The entire burden of complying with the norms of the decree is shifted from tax authorities to local authorities. To do this, the executive committees will create permanent commissions, which will include deputies of all levels, representatives of local authorities and public associations. These commissions will be chaired by the chairmen of the councils of deputies.

Such commissions will have two key tasks. The first is to assist citizens in finding employment, the second is to compile lists of citizens who can, but do not want to work. From January 1, 2019, such persons will pay for state-subsidized services for full cost. The specific list of services is instructed to determine the government. However, it is already known that non-working citizens will lose subsidies for paying utilities, will pay 100% for medicine and education.

Commissions of local executive committees will also decide whether a citizen really does not want to work (leads an asocial lifestyle) or if he finds himself in a difficult life situation, and therefore may not pay for social services at full cost. Also, local authorities will have to work individually with citizens on the issue of their employment.

At the same time, the government of the country must adopt a number of resolutions, which will, among other things, determine the procedure for classifying able-bodied citizens as not employed in the economy, a list of social services provided to these citizens at full cost, and the procedure for calculating fees for these services. Also, it is the government that must figure out how to occupy unemployed citizens in the regions - the Council of Ministers has already been ordered to set forecast indicators in the field of promoting employment.

The decree also singles out "problem areas" - depressed regions of Belarus in which there are no operating industries, and hence jobs outside of budgetary organizations.

Over the course of the year, the government must decide on measures economic development such regions, primarily by supporting local small and medium-sized businesses. In turn, the regional councils of deputies will be able to additionally allocate funds from local budgets to activities to promote employment in areas with a tense situation on the labor market.

How it was

The Decree “On the Prevention of Social Dependency” was signed by Alexander Lukashenko in April 2015. The document provided that citizens who do not work more than 183 calendar days a year must pay 20 basic units to the budget. At that time it was the sum of 360 Belarusian rubles ($180).

At first, the document was not taken seriously in society - until December 2016, when the tax inspectorates sent out about 470 thousand notices about the need to pay the “parasitism tax”.

It turned out that Decree No. 3 actually introduced a tax on the unemployed. This swept across the country in February - March 2017. Only 54 thousand people out of 470 thousand paid the prescribed amount.

On March 9, 2017, the decree was suspended, and at a government meeting, Lukashenka announced that the fee would not be collected from the unemployed for a year. The tax authorities were instructed to return the money to those who had already paid the “parasitism tax”. Simultaneously the president of all the unemployed.

At the same time, a radical revision of the document began, which resulted in the appearance of Decree No. 1.

Questions remain

“The most important thing that remains incomprehensible is how the requirement for the unemployed to pay, for example, medicine fits in with the Constitution, according to which state medicine is free for all citizens, without any distinction? Or education - the child of non-working parents, it turns out, will not be taken to a free school? - noted in an interview with RT Belarusian politician, leader of the International Center for Civil Initiatives "Our House" Olga Karach.

She clarified that Article 41 of the Belarusian Constitution directly prohibits the use of forced labor, and this provision is contained in many international agreements signed by the republic.

“And here, it turns out, we see forced labor. So far, there is no clarity on how the government will resolve these contradictions,” Karach stressed.

Another important question, according to experts, is how realistic it is to employ everyone. Despite the measures taken by the government, data from the state statistical agency (Belstat) show that in January-September 2017, 4,351,800 people were employed in the Belarusian economy. This is almost 65 thousand (1.4%) less than in the same period last year.

• Workers in the workshop on the territory of the plant in Belarus
• RIA News
• Evgeny Biyatov

“Employment of the population is primarily the responsibility of a particular region. And who, if not local authorities, sees the situation, owns all the information in order to resolve existing issues? So the employment of people is becoming one of the most important criteria for evaluating the work of local authorities,” the Minister of Labor and social protection Belarus Irina Kostevich.

According to her, local authorities are responsible for the implementation of specific measures to ensure employment of the population, "including the creation of jobs, assistance in finding employment, retraining, provision of temporary work."

On April 2, 2015, President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko adopted Decree No. 3 "On the Prevention of Social Dependency" and introduced a special fee, which is popularly known as the "parasitism" tax. If a person does not have a permanent job for six months, he must pay this type of fee to the treasury. A citizen who has decided to evade payment obligations may receive forced labor.

Goals

The tax on "parasitism" in Belarus was introduced for the following purposes:

• Treasury replenishment. The stable economy of the country depends on it. Now the treasury is enriched thanks to those people who, due to various circumstances, did not pay income tax.
• Free medicine. Yes, healthcare has always been free. Every working citizen has a health tax deduction, but the unemployed also received free medical care without paying any fees.
• Reducing the unemployment rate. This is what the government's decision was aimed at in the first place. Thus, unemployment is the scourge of our time, and every state seeks to lower its level. After the decree, many began to look for work so as not to pay tax out of their own pockets.

Who said that since 2017 the tax on "parasitism" has been canceled?

After a while, it can be noted that this fee had an impact on the country's economy. Some people admitted to being held, but they were able to pay without any problems. Therefore, one should hardly expect the decree to be canceled in the near future.

Who is exempt from paying?

The following citizens may not pay the "parasitism" tax:

• Persons under 18 years of age.
• Pensioners. Women aged 55 and men over 60 do not pay the fee, as they are on a well-deserved rest.
• Students. Full-time students who are receiving education for the first time. If this is not the first education, then the state will have to pay.
• Disabled and disabled citizens.
• People who arrived in the Republic of Belarus after the adoption of the decree.
• Citizens who stay in the country for less than 183 days a year.
• Clergymen of religious organizations.
• Villager. IN countryside there are practically no vacancies, so all residents are mainly engaged in farming, and this is also considered a job and involves the payment of taxes.
• Parents. When a child reaches three years of age, one of the parents has the right not to pay the "parasitism" tax.
• Parents of children with disabilities. They do not pay the "parasitism" tax in Belarus until the child is 18 years old. After that, they must go to work or pay a fee.
• Citizens who stay for a long time in the territory of another country must submit all documents, stamps in their passports about living abroad.
• The military simply provide a military ID. A conscripted employee who has served less than 183 days in a year must pay the fee.
• Individual entrepreneurs. Only if you have paid taxes for the year more than 20 basic units.
• Lawyers, notaries, whose total tax for the year amounted to more than 70 basic units. They may not pay the "parasitism" tax in Belarus (2015).

• Parents with many children with three or more children.
• Citizens undergoing retraining will be exempted from paying the fee if they retrain in the direction of the employment center.
• Officially unemployed must be registered with the employment center, but not more than three years. You can only refuse a job offer twice.
• Owners of rented apartments, provided that they pay taxes on the funds received from the delivery of the property.
• Seriously ill patients must provide a certificate of incapacity for work or a certificate confirming that they are being treated.
• People of creative professions must provide a ticket stating that they are in a creative union.
• Prisoners are citizens serving their sentences in a correctional colony for more than six months.

Countries that have a tax on "parasitism"

In addition to the Republic of Belarus, there is no such tax anywhere else. Each country deals with unemployment in its own way. Today, Belarusians are not very happy with this state of affairs.

Who keeps track of the "parasites"?

The tax authority inspects the income and expenses of citizens and finds out who did not make any payments. Further, the citizen is recognized as a social dependent, and he is sent a receipt for payment of the fee.

Punishment for non-payment

If you do not pay the tax on "parasitism" in Belarus (2015) on time, you can get a fine. It is charged in the amount of 2-4 basic payments. Or an administrative arrest can be imposed, the term of which can be up to 15 days. For each citizen, the measure of punishment is determined individually. During the arrest, the offender must carry out community service. What kind of work will be carried out is decided by the local authorities. Note that pregnant women are exempted from detention.

When to pay?

Social dependency is subject to a fee, which is paid by November 15 of the following year. If in fixed time have not made payments, they will be imposed automatically. For example, the fee for 2016 must be paid by November 15, 2017. Better not be late with the payment. It is also very important to bring documents confirming the possibility of not paying the fee on time.

What should I do if I receive a notification?

If you received a letter stating that you are a "parasite", then within 30 calendar days you can provide tax service documents that you are exempt from paying tax. Within 30 days your papers are checked. If tax office arrange the documents, then you can forget about the payment. And if they didn’t like something, then they will have to figure it out or redo the certificates.

The nuances of the collection

Many argue that social dependency is no longer subject to levy. But, to their great regret, there are no prerequisites for the authorities to decide to cancel the collection. Therefore, you need to know all the nuances of this bill, so that later there will be no trouble. Many people think that if there is no residence permit in Belarus, then you can not pay the fee. In reality, this is not true. Such citizens are also tracked, and if they evade payment, they are put on the wanted list. The government of the country states that ignorance of the law on the collection does not exempt from its payment.

Many articles on the Web have told people that housewives may not pay the fee. However, the president has repeatedly commented on this case. If the family decided that the husband can fully support his wife, then he can pay the fee for her. Only those housewives who have a minor child in care, or if they are mothers of many children, are released. So do not wonder if the tax on "parasitism" will be abolished. Most likely not.

After the introduction this fee According to official data, the country's unemployment has fallen sharply. Many residents of Belarus are afraid of losing their position. By signing this bill, the president pursued certain goals, which, in his words, fully justified themselves. The law equated all segments of the population, both the poor and the rich. In the first days after the adoption of the decree, many were outraged by the order signed by Lukashenka. And now mass protests and street demonstrations for the abolition of the decree continue.

And for those citizens who do not want to work, there is an alternative - paying a tax. The authorities say that no one is forcing people to work, that this bill does not violate the Constitution of the country, which states that a person has the right to choose. To work or not - the person decides, the state simply asks to finance its treasury.

On March 9, President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko postponed the payment of the “parasitism tax” for a year.

He promised that the decree on the tax, which is levied on those who officially worked less than 6 months a year, will be adjusted, but not canceled, Belta reports.

“During March, if necessary, we need to correct this decree. But the decree will not be cancelled. First of all, tell the officials that it will be implemented with the adjustments that I mentioned,” the Belarusian leader said.

He instructed by April 1 to determine the lists of those who must make payments on the basis of the decree on "parasitism."

“In 2016, a certain number (thousands of people) made payments without contesting. Today I am lifting the requirement that everyone we single out in the first quarter pay this money. For 2016, we will not collect this money from those who have to pay. And those who paid, those in 2017 will not pay. If they work in 2017, we must return this money at their request,” Lukashenka explained.

Thus, Lukashenka reacted to numerous protests against the tax, which affected about 8% of all able-bodied citizens of the country.

Belarusian economist Vladimir Kovalkin believes that the introduction of the tax was big mistake, which was also psychologically poorly perceived by people, writes Meduza.

“The fact that the decree is one big, continuous mistake was clear to everyone already at the stage of its inventing. Even then, independent economists and experts analyzed it and called the document violating several articles of the Constitution at once, which, for example, says that a person has the right to work, but there is not a word that he is obliged to work ... As for the economic part of this decree : trying to tax unemployed people is at least strange, if only because they simply do not have income from which they could pay this tax, ”said Kovalkin.

The authorities wanted to strike at the black and gray markets, at those people who seem to be engaged in entrepreneurial activity, but they are not formalized in any way and do not pay taxes, but hit the unprotected segments of the population, for example, mothers sitting at home with children.

“Besides, the wording itself, prescribed in the decree, offends people greatly. It's one thing when you evade taxes - that's all right, but here, it turns out, you lived, worked, paid taxes, and then suddenly found yourself without a job - and suddenly became a parasite. And no one cares that you worked for 10-15 years and honestly paid high taxes. They will impose an additional fine on you, and even call you a bad word, ”summed up the economist.

In 2015, the President of Belarus Alexander. In accordance with the decree, citizens of Belarus who do not work for six months must pay a tax once a year, the amount of which is 20 basic units (one base unit is a little more than $10).

This law led to

Decree No. 3 "On the Prevention of Social Dependency" was not going to be "slowed down". On the contrary, it is being prepared new edition, providing for much broader control over employment and incomes of the population than in the original version. These issues were discussed at a meeting with the President of Belarus on August 3 following the report on demographic situation and promotion of employment.

The authorities are aware of the role of human capital and hope to maintain and increase the dynamics of population growth. True, so far it leaves much to be desired: as of July 1, 2017, only 9495.5 thousand people lived in the republic - almost 682 thousand less than at the beginning of 1996. Although in 2014-2016. some improvement was observed, in current year decline began again. However, the President is confident that Belarus can feed 20 million people, and to begin with, it needs to reach 15 million people. " This economic security of our country, the power of our state, and it is always in people", Alexander Lukashenko said.

In this matter, the state is obliged to act proactively, predict future processes and respond to them in time. “Creating conditions for stimulating the birth rate, providing people with jobs, increasing their well-being are the main government tasks, the tasks of local authorities that need to be addressed. For the solution of these social issues, the demand is the most severe from any official,” the President said.

The second, no less important issue is the promotion of employment. “Everyone who wants to work should have this opportunity. Therefore, the authorities need to provide assistance to everyone who needs it. Actively organize the retraining of citizens, assist them in organizing their business,” the head of state said. The main thesis of the authorities: "everyone who wants to work must have a job, and he has one in our country."

For the implementation of such a concept, Decree No. 3 “On the Prevention of Social Dependency” remains an important tool. Its new edition should be ready by October of the current year.

The wave of protests against the decree did not force the authorities to change their mind. " Society must know that there can be no repeal of the decree, the President said. - I have already motivated this question: we have at least half a million unemployed people. Of these, we can release 200,000: those with many children, the sick, the disabled, people who may want to work, but they are unable to due to life circumstances. But where is 300 thousand? Therefore, Decree No. 3 is 300 thousand of those who should work, but do not work. And we have to make them work. That's the whole ideology».

According to the President, local authorities that directly control the labor market and see every person, and local executive authorities should have all the powers and levers to influence these people to solve this problem. Along with the government, deputies should also take an active part in the development of a new version of the decree. " The deputy cannot be eliminated from this problem", - said the head of state.

Interestingly, until recently, the development and adoption of decrees and decrees usually did without the participation of parliamentarians. But it turns out that this is also “their bread” - probably in case they have to explain themselves to the population.

A new approach to stimulate employment of the population will be the implementation of the norms of the new edition of Decree No. 3 by local authorities. The government also proposes to implement the principle “if you don't work, you pay for services”. It is assumed that able-bodied citizens who are not employed in the economy will pay for services subsidized by the state budget at a cost that ensures reimbursement of the costs of their provision.

Now all options are being studied, according to which work in this direction could be built. The government is also developing a list of such services. To implement new approaches, the Belarusian Integrated Service and Settlement System is being created. Minister of Labor and Social Protection Irina Kostevich, after a meeting with the head of state, explained that by the end of 2018, all citizens of the country should receive ID cards that allow them to determine whether a person pays taxes and contributions to the Social Security Fund. Able-bodied citizens who are not employed in the economy will pay for those services that are funded by the state. If a person does not work, “then the state will provide services in a completely different way,” the minister said.

Since the President supported such a concept, it remains to finalize the new version of Decree No. 3, as well as to develop an integrated service-billing system as soon as possible, which will cover various areas the life of society. At the same time, the implementation of the norms of the new decree is supposed to be transferred to the competence of local authorities. It is they who, in the near future, will have to deal with the discontent of the population, assess who and for what reason ended up in a “difficult life situation” and whether they can be helped in any way.

Thus, the authorities do not at all intend to "slow down" Decree No. 3, as other citizens hoped. On the contrary, officials are going to draw some lessons from the spring events and collect money from the population that is not working for various reasons more effectively at a qualitatively new level. It must be assumed that the developers and authors of the project are sure in advance that their offspring will not contradict the norms of the Constitution, which guarantee Belarusians the right to health care, including free treatment in public institutions health care (Article 45), accessibility and free of charge general secondary and vocational education (Article 49). However, in many countries there are similar systems, for example, compulsory insurance health in Lithuania. But at the same time, there are a number of other mechanisms, for example, unemployment benefits, on which a person can live. In addition, in the EU, the US and the post-Soviet countries, the state did not declare itself “social” and did not instill paternalistic moods in the population for years. So now we will have to pay not so much for social services, but for getting rid of illusions.

Let's pay attention to one more detail. The meeting was not only about demographics, employment and payment of social services. The topics of declaring income and property and tax evasion were also raised. It was decided to pay more attention to these issues. This should also be done by citizens who, in the excitement of discussing the “tax on parasites”, did not pay attention to paragraph 15 of Decree No. calendar days in tax period, tax authorities have the right to exercise control over the correspondence of citizens' expenses to incomes on the basis of available information on incomes, property and other expenses of citizens. If the tax authorities establish that someone does not live by legal means, i.e. his expenses exceed the income, information about which is available to the tax authorities, or the fact of receiving income is not confirmed, then a written request will be sent to the citizen to provide explanations about the sources of income. If explanations are not given within the established 30-day period or their content is unconvincing, the citizen will have to pay tax on the excess of expenses over income.

Instruction on the procedure for monitoring the compliance of citizens' expenses with incomes on the basis of information at the disposal of the tax authorities on incomes, property and other expenses of citizens without requiring a declaration of income and property, approved. Decree of the Ministry of Taxes and Taxes of August 31, 2015 No. 22, and a new version of the Law “On Declaration of individuals income and property at the request of the tax authorities” open up wide opportunities for identifying people living beyond their means and collecting taxes from them. This could replenish the treasury much more significantly than the notorious "tax on parasites", if, of course, the regulatory authorities seriously begin to use these mechanisms. True, then, most likely, the interests of not the unemployed and housewives, but very important, perhaps even influential persons, will be affected. But they do have money to pay taxes.

Read more on the website of the Economic Newspaper:

Which provides for measures to promote employment of the population. The document is aimed primarily at intensifying the work of the authorities to maximize the assistance to citizens in finding employment, stimulating employment and self-employment of the population. This was reported by the press service of the President.

To this end, the Decree entrusts the Government with the tasks of establishing forecast indicators in the field of promoting employment of the population and a list of territories with a tense situation in the labor market, monitoring, assessing the quality and availability of services in the field of promoting employment of the population.

In turn, local authorities will ensure individual work with citizens on the ground in the course of work on their employment and resocialization of persons leading an asocial lifestyle. In addition, the regional, Minsk City Councils of Deputies will be able to additionally allocate funds local budgets implementation of measures to promote employment of the population in areas with a tense situation in the labor market.

The new Decree did not include the norms on the collection of fees from able-bodied non-working citizens to finance public expenditures. At the same time, persons previously recognized as payers of this fee are exempted from paying it.

The Decree provides for a conceptually different approach aimed at stimulating able-bodied non-working citizens to legal employment. It is envisaged that from January 1, 2019, such persons will pay for state-subsidized services at their full cost. The specific list of such services is instructed to determine the Government.

The key role in organizing work to implement the norms of the Decree is assigned to local authorities. To do this, it is envisaged to create permanent commissions by local executive and administrative bodies, the main tasks of which are to assist citizens in finding employment.

The commissions will include deputies of all levels, specialists from local authorities, as well as representatives of public associations. As a rule, the chairmen of the Councils of Deputies will head the commissions created at the district level.

The decree gives the commissions broad powers, including making decisions on the release for a certain time of able-bodied citizens who are not employed in the economy from the obligation to pay for services at full cost if they have a difficult life situation.

To implement the Decree, the Government will adopt a number of resolutions, which will, among other things, determine the procedure for classifying able-bodied citizens as not employed in the economy, the list of services provided to these citizens at full cost, the procedure for calculating fees for these services and other issues.

In addition, it is envisaged that the Government will take measures aimed at intensifying preventive work with able-bodied non-working citizens leading an asocial lifestyle; activities of tax authorities to identify and tax the hidden income of individuals.

The decree comes into force after its official publication.

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