Officials spoke about how the approach to employment of citizens will change from 2019
Photo: Victor GILITSKY
Change text size: A A
Before April 1, the government was supposed to present an updated Decree No. 1, which is also known to the people as a decree on parasitism. Recall that about a year ago, Alexander Lukashenko suspended Decree No. 3 and instructed to finalize it. But officials insist: this is not an updated decree, but a completely new document. And it is he who, as officials assure, will help everyone who wants it find a job.
These are the ones who work employment contract(contract), civil law contract, individual entrepreneurs, lawyers, notaries, artisans, as well as those engaged in agritourism. Those who do not register IP, but pay single tax. Also, military personnel, employees of a paramilitary organization with special ranks, liable for military service during the passage of military or special training, as well as those undergoing alternative service, are not considered parasites. Also, parasites will not read creative workers whose status is confirmed by a creative union or a professional certificate of a creative worker. Priests, participants (members) of the monastery, the monastic community, as well as students of spiritual educational institutions. This also includes members of national and national sports teams, the unemployed who are registered at employment centers or undergo retraining from employment centers.
Those who are raising a child under 7 years old, a disabled child under 18 years old, or three or more minor children were exempted from the status of "parasite".
Also employed in the economy will be those who are engaged in the production of crop products (except for floriculture, ornamental plants, their seeds and seedlings), animal husbandry (except for Brest, Vitebsk, Gomel, Grodno, Minsk, Mogilev) in land plot, which was provided for part-time farming, farming (peasant) farming, etc.
Employed in the economy will be considered athletes who are students of specialized educational and sports institutions, children's and youth sports schools (specialized children's and youth schools of the Olympic reserve), which are included in clubs by type (s) of sports in the form of separate structural divisions.
Who can not get on the list of parasites?
Those who cannot work for objective reasons. These are, for example, citizens with whom labor relations have been terminated - during the quarter that follows the quarter when the dismissal took place. But if you lost your job due to staff reduction, for health reasons, then the period is extended by 6 months from the date of dismissal.
Military personnel, employees (employees) of a paramilitary organization, with special ranks of reservists during classes and training camps, as well as during alternative service, are excluded from the lists for 6 months, starting from the month after the termination of the above relations.
If you studied full-time at a university, then after graduation, until the end of the calendar year, you are not included in the lists of parasites. It is the same with students of theological educational institutions.
If you rent out housing, rent a car space, and pay taxes, then you are not considered a parasite either.
Pensioners will not be included in the lists, including those receiving pensions from other states, as well as those receiving temporary disability benefits.
Citizens who came to our country for permanent residence, foreigners or stateless persons who have received permission to permanent residence in Belarus . But only for six months - during this time they will have to find a job.
Who will need to prove their status?
Not everyone will automatically drop out of the lists. Some will still be included. And in order to prove that you are not a parasite, you will have to come to the commission and confirm your status. Who should come?
Firstly, those who have resigned must do this within a quarter. And this also applies to those who were left without work due to staff reductions. Also, wives and husbands of the military, young professionals working abroad will have to come to the commission and prove their status as “not a parasite”. If you are under medical supervision during pregnancy and childbirth, then you will also need to prove this to the commission.
How do you pay utility bills anyway?
New Decree about parasitism will start working from 2019. But he still has questions. For example, the new resolution stipulates that citizens who are not employed in the economy will pay for 100% services. But what exactly? Officials said they would most likely utilities. Then the question is: if there is one parasite and one working person in the family, how will they be considered a communal apartment, at what tariffs?
The draft legal act defining the list of services (which will be paid at 100% tariffs by parasites. - Ed.), Is at the final stage of approval. And I think we will discuss this issue after it is adopted normative act- said First Deputy Minister of Labor and Social Protection Andrey Lobovich.
What about those who work abroad?
They must confirm their status when applying to the commission. If they confirm that they are legally working abroad, then the commission will exclude them from the database, and they will not be included in the list of unemployed in the economy, the official said.
- And if a person is studying abroad or traveling?- asked the question to the official "Komsomolskaya Pravda".
The regulation defines the status of only confirmation of those working abroad. In relation to students abroad, the provision of the norms does not prescribe.
Not quite right. If a person is a student abroad, respectively, will live there, he can, in accordance with the documents confirming the status, apply to the commission and the commission in individually will consider it.
- And if I traveled for 7 months?
It's not about time period. Bases will be formed for the first and second half of the year with quarterly adjustments. Accordingly, according to the results of the quarter, if you fall under the category related to employment for at least one day, then, accordingly, you will not be included in the database.
How much will the budget earn on parasites?
The goal of implementing the decree is not to replenish budget revenues. The purpose of the implementation of the decree lies in its name - to promote employment for the population. Those potential citizens who get into the database have every right, and the commission will reach them, and local authorities will assist in finding employment. To take advantage of this opportunity, this help from the state for a person is his personal position, his personal right. But the state is taking a step forward to assist in finding employment.
There are two unions of writers in Belarus, there are two unions of journalists. Who exactly will be considered a creative worker? Is it necessary to be a member of a state union?
The regulation says that these are citizens who carry out creative activities as a creative worker, whose status is confirmed by a creative union. At the same time, our citizens include able-bodied citizens of the republic, Foreign citizens and stateless persons who have received a permanent residence permit in the Republic of Belarus or a residence permit in the Republic of Belarus. If they confirm the status of a creative worker, no questions asked, he will be excluded from the database.
How do I know if I'm a parasite or not?
Previously, there were letters of happiness that were sent to parasites. Now how do you know if you get on the list or not, are you in danger of a 100% communal apartment?
The commissions and local authorities will make their own decisions, the position of the commission does not regulate the procedure for informing and notifying citizens that they will potentially fall into the database of the unemployed in the economy. We give this to the right of the commission based on the opportunities that they have. But I want to say that all citizens who enter the database will be informed that they are there.
Why will there be no mistakes with the new decree?
When Decree No. 3 was in effect, many "letters of happiness" were sent to those who were not actually parasites.
- Aren't you afraid that mistakes will also occur with this decree?- asked "Komsomolskaya Pravda"
When forming the decree, normative legal acts in its development, the approaches that we have laid down will make the most of the data information resources that we have, and as a result, the database data that we will have, respectively, for working out by commissions, executive committees, should reach each person on an initiative basis. That is, it will not turn out that someone will be informed, but they will not provide assistance or any measures to involve him in employment. That is, the initiative will be from local authorities. And then the right of every citizen to take advantage of the help and change his status or remain in the status in which he is.
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 a big mistake, which was also psychologically badly 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, ”concluded 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
Read also on ForumDaily:
We ask for your support: make your contribution to the development of the ForumDaily project
Thank you for staying with us and trusting! Over the past four years, we have received a lot of grateful feedback from readers who have helped our materials to arrange life after moving to the United States, get a job or education, find housing or arrange a child in kindergarten.
The security of contributions is guaranteed using the highly secure Stripe system.
Always yours, ForumDaily!
Processing . . .
January 25, 2018 Decree No. 1 was signed "On the Promotion of Employment of the Population" who made changes to Decree No. 3 "On the prevention of social dependency”. The Decree comes into force on January 27, 2018.
The law on parasitism was signed on April 2, 2015. President of the Republic of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko.
The official title of this piece of legislation is Decree No. 3 “On the Prevention of Social Dependency”.
The law on parasitism was issued in order to encourage able-bodied citizens to work and ensure that they fulfill their constitutional obligation to participate in financing public spending, involvement in legal economic activity unemployed population and prevention of social dependency.
Main excerpts from the law.
Citizens of the Republic of Belarus, foreign citizens and stateless persons who have received a permanent residence permit in the Republic of Belarus, in case of their non-participation in the financing of public expenditures or participation in such financing less than 183 calendar days in a tax period are recognized as payers of the levy for the financing of public expenditures.
The tax period of collection is a calendar year.
Fee amount for the tax period is 20 base units based on the size of the base value.
When paying taxes, according to the Decree, in the amount less than 20 base units based on the size of the base amount established as of January 1 of the relevant tax period, payable the amount of the fee is reduced by the amount of taxes paid.
Non-payment or incomplete payment of the fee entail the imposition of a fine in the amount of two to four base units or administrative arrest. Administratively arrested, brought to administrative responsibility for committing administrative offenses provided for in part one of this paragraph, during the period of serving an administrative arrest, they must be involved in the execution publicly useful work . The list of objects and types of socially useful work for such persons are approved by decisions local executive and administrative bodies.
In order to identify citizens who do not participate in the financing of public expenditures or participate in such financing for less than 183 calendar days in a tax period, tax authorities have the right to exercise control in the field of declaration of income and property and control over the compliance of citizens' expenses with incomes based on available tax authorities information on income, property and other expenses of citizens without requesting a declaration on income and property.
The law on parasitism is in the public domain on the website of the President of the Republic of Belarus.
Will get acquainted with the comments of the Minister of Labor and Social Protection of the Republic of Belarus Shchetkina M.A. to the Decree of the President of the Republic of Belarus of April 2, 2015 No. 3 is possible.
Protest actions of "parasites" swept through many Belarusian cities. They were held in Brest, Bobruisk and Baranovichi. In Vitebsk, the largest "people's gathering" in the history of the city was organized. Minsk residents also expressed their dissatisfaction: the action in the capital became the most massive since the dramatic events of 2010, when citizens opposed the results of the presidential elections.
Now the Belarusian "parasites" are preparing for the "hot March" - the schedule of events throughout the country is scheduled by day; the culmination should be Freedom Day on March 25th.
“With us, ordinary citizens, no one is considered. Here is the fee for "parasitism" - people lose workplace and they are taxed. How does that work, huh? Should people pay for not having a job?” - the participants of mass actions are indignant. However, it is possible that the rallies will no longer be needed: everything indicates that the authorities are ready to suspend the ill-fated Decree No. 3.
Ever since the end of last year tax inspections began to literally send out “letters of happiness” in batches, the demand of the state to pay a “tax on parasitism” became, perhaps, the main topic of conversation among Belarusians. But at the very beginning, back in April 2015, when Alyaksandr Lukashenka signed Decree No. 3 “On the Prevention of Social Dependency,” many assessed the “decree on parasites” with irony. So far, we haven't received any tax notices.
From November to January, the Belarusian tax authorities sent out more than 470,000 notifications to recipients about the need to pay a "fee to finance state expenses." That is, about every 22nd Belarusian received such a “letter of happiness”. But if we take into account in the general statistics only able-bodied citizens who work officially, excluding small children, schoolchildren, students and pensioners, it turns out that every tenth able-bodied citizen received a “letter of happiness”. If we take into account the absent - those who went to work in Russia, Poland and other neighboring states, then in general every eighth. Thus, the "tax on parasites" instantly became a social phenomenon.
According to Decree No. 3 "On the Prevention of Social Dependency", if a citizen of Belarus does not work 183 days a year and is not registered as unemployed, then he must pay a special fee - 360 Belarusian rubles($185). February 20, 2017 is the deadline for paying the fee.
At the same time, many Belarusians, even when they are unemployed, are not registered as unemployed. The fact is that the unemployment benefit in the country is about $ 20, you can receive it only for six months and at the same time you need to go to public works. In addition, there is nothing to do, especially in the provinces, where there are many half-dead enterprises. Their leaders do not fire anyone (it is forbidden so as not to spoil the statistics), and they practically do not pay salaries. People are trapped.
It came as a complete surprise to the authorities that the usually obedient Belarusians simply refused to pay the tax. Despite possible penalties, including imprisonment, only 10% of those who received the notices contributed money. The rest began a campaign of civil disobedience.
The authorities also overlooked something else: in 2017, citizens, it turns out, are required to pay a fee for two previous tax period- for 2015 (until February 20, amount - 360 rubles) and for 2016 (until November 15, amount - 420 rubles). In total it is $400. But average monthly salary in Belarus falls short of this indicator. And in the provinces, besides, salaries are much lower than in the capital, while getting a job is many times more difficult. This is precisely what explains the resonance in society, which was caused by notifications from the tax inspectorate. The received notifications in the complete absence of money from people caused a number of suicides. The media reported on several cases, while the circumstances for two were established for certain: in Osipovichi and Rogachev.
In response to the "letters of happiness" one of the Belarusians poisons the existence of employees of the tax authorities and officials of the executive committees, flooding them with complaints and making scandals.
But the largest group is made up of citizens who simply do not have money, and these people took to the protests. Even the recent increase in the retirement age has not provoked such a conflict.
“The problem of the so-called parasites has several aspects. The first is moral. Thousands of people who cannot work due to difficult life situations, tens of thousands of those who do not work due to bad leadership (every year the country loses 70,000 jobs), economist Lev Margolin, deputy chairman of the United Civil Party, notes on the Europe Insight website. . The second aspect is legal. The constitution provides for a right to work, not a duty. And for many, the words "welfare state" have long lost all meaning. They teach children for their money, but for money they rent medical tests and do different procedures. In fact, the only ones they don’t “finance” are officials and security forces who beat them on occasion. Well, the third aspect is economic. It is unlikely that the money that can be collected from the "parasites" (according to the most optimistic estimates, this is $30-35 million) will cover the costs associated with obtaining these funds. This is the remuneration of employees of tax and other public services: militia, courts, penitentiary services; tons of paper and ink, etc. etc. A classic case when the game is not worth the candle. And that's not counting the cost of losing reputation."
In December 2016, Lukashenka officially acknowledged the incorrect implementation of the tax measure, and in January he signed Decree No. 1, by which he made changes to his original “decree on parasites”. However, instead of eliminating excesses, the new document had the opposite effect: in particular, mothers who raise young children were obliged to pay the tax. After that, people took to the streets.
However, it is unlikely that the Belarusian authorities were seriously afraid of the protests. At one time, Lukashenka also experienced much larger-scale performances.
However, practice has shown that the "parasitism tax" was not profitable, but, on the contrary, unprofitable for the treasury. Even if we simply add up all the office expenses, the costs of creating special databases, the working hours of numerous officials and the tax inspectorates that are completely paralyzed today, it turns out that the implementation of the “parasite decree” took much more money than was received as a result of it. . Experts interviewed by RT agree: the authorities should not have started anything at all.
When developing Decree No. 3, the state expected to receive additional funds to the budget, assuming that people who are not employed in the "official" economy and are not officially registered as unemployed work in the "shadow" and do not pay taxes. But in practice, it turned out that citizens simply sit idle or work at enterprises with employment 1-2 days a week - there are a lot of such people in Belarus.
As a result, the case of each non-payer has to be considered individually, and there are half a million of them. Now, the health authorities should also collect information whether the citizen suspected of “parasitism” suffered serious diseases that could prevent him from working.
It turned out to be a kind of chain reaction - mass proceedings with "parasites" paralyze the work of ever new state structures. And this is happening against the backdrop of an incredible increase in social tensions.
How to get everything back
“I am sure that at the very top they already perfectly understood how much they missed the pursuit of the “parasites”. And now the main concern of the authorities is to get out of this situation, saving face, - Belarusian economist Leonid Zlotnikov told RT. - I really don't understand anything else. Didn't anyone in the presidential administration foresee when preparing this decree that it would cost more than the amount of money received? It turns out that there, at the very top, they decided that the Belarusians would simply and meekly pay the next fee, and such a large one by Belarusian standards? In this case, the leadership of the country big problems not with economics, but with sociology.
It will not work to shift the blame to officials on the principle of “the king is good - the boyars are bad,” Zlotnikov believes.
“I think that the issue of “pacification” of society will be entrusted to tax inspectorates and executive committees, which will be incredibly loyal to citizens,” says Leonid Zlotnikov. - That is, they will accept absolutely any explanation from people why they didn’t work, why they don’t have money, what their life situation is, and so on. Just to bring down the current wave of indignation. And closer to autumn, the decree will be frozen under a plausible pretext. That is, they will not cancel it, but will stop using it and pretend that there was nothing special.”
November 15 is the deadline for paying the "parasitism tax" in Belarus. So the country called the presidential decree "On the Prevention of Social Dependency", signed on April 2, 2015. According to it, Belarusians who have not participated in the financing of the state budget for more than six months, and who do not have grounds for tax exemption, are required to pay an amount of 20 basic units.
The experts interviewed by DW are sure that the economic and educational effect is incomparable with the costs of collecting the tax. But Deputy Finance Minister Maksim Yermolovich, answering the question of how much the state spent on administering the "parasitism tax", said at the October Economic Forum: "Believe me, not much."
" There was no purpose to raise money"
The purpose of the introduction of the tax, in the opinion of the expert of the Center economic research BEROC by Ekaterina Bornukova was "rather educational". Officials wanted either to force citizens who do not officially work to register at the labor exchange, or to get out of the shadow of unofficial workers. They calculated that there are 400,000 citizens of working age in Belarus who are not registered at any job, and immediately declared that all of them are potential payers of the new tax.
According to the logic of the authorities, it was also supposed to force those who earn with the help of pendulum migration to pay taxes, for example, in Russia, where there is no record of working Belarusians, the expert explains.
She draws attention to the fact that women who have chosen the role of housewives also fall under the decree. The number of registered unemployed in Belarus has indeed increased, but the official data still does not reflect the real picture of unemployment; according to her, they are four to five times higher.
"50000 - it's a shot in the air"
It is impossible to understand how much money was collected, it is being heavily concealed, Bornukova states. In her opinion, there are reasons not to trust officials who claim that now IT technologies make it possible to organize the collection of tax and identify taxpayers relatively cheaply. After all, it's about convergence. a large number databases (that is, according to many criteria, a person may not pay this tax), and the work of officials costs money.
It is known that the tax authorities sent notices to pay taxes to 50,000 citizens, however, the expert doubts that it is unlikely that all of them will pay, and there are still many expenses ahead, including "catching" payers.
Comparing the situation in Belarus with the international practice of taxation, Bornukova points out that the state, in fact, imposed a fine on its citizens for not working, and this is a violation of human rights, forced labor. Ultimately, she believes, the very existence of this tax will shame the country to the whole world.
Leonid Fridkin, editor-in-chief of the Belarusian Economic Newspaper, also agrees in principle with Ekaterina Bornukova: “The new tax was introduced under the pretext of restoring social justice and replenishing the budget, and at the same time scare the “shadow companies”. The tax office found 50,000, but the question remains - where are the other 350,000?"
New tax avoidance schemes are being worked out
In addition, he is sure that of the found tax service Half of the potential payers will be beaten off by submitting corroborative documents. Friedkin draws attention to the fact that the decree was adopted retroactively, that is, this year not everyone has stocked up with the necessary certificates, but next year there will be more of them. In 2016, according to his calculations, the state expected to raise about $84 million, but in reality it will collect a maximum of $10 million.
Some students studying abroad have received a notice to pay a "parasitism tax". They are forced to provide "supporting documents".
Schemes of avoiding the new tax are being worked out. For example, a husband who has his own company can cut his salary, employ his wife, putting her the minimum wage. They also fictitiously get a job in other cases, even without having relatives who own their own enterprises.
The only possible benefit of this campaign is to identify those whose expenses exceed official income, which in the future will allow the state to present its account to them, Friedkin said. However, he notes, this could be done without even introducing new tax. After all, this is the responsibility of the tax service.
" Tax on parasitism" harms the image of Belarus
The harm from the campaign, in Friedkin's opinion, is obvious. For example, the state demonstrates its attitude towards the institution of marriage: developed countries families are given a deduction if, for example, the husband supports a non-working wife. In Belarus, in this case, the husband pays a double price: a tax for himself and for his wife.
Experts also point out that all Belarusians, when buying any goods and services in Belarus, pay taxes, therefore, even for this reason alone, they cannot be made claims under the article "non-participation in financing government spending."
"I am absolutely sure that the costs associated with the identification of "parasites" and this entire campaign entailed such material and image losses for Belarus that are not compensated by any collected amounts," the expert sums up.
