The History of Modern Idleness - What to Expect from the Famous Decree Next

By October 1, the Belarusians were promised an updated Decree No. 3, designed to finally bring order to the issue of parasites. In the meantime, the document has not yet left the offices of officials, I decided to remember what happened to him during this time, and talked about the future of dependents with an expert.

It is difficult to remember what other normative act caused such emotions in the public. The existence of the decree signed almost on April 1 was generally unbelievable for a long time. Meanwhile, it has existed for more than two years and, apparently, it will not disappear from the legal field.

“The decree today represents a big political problem for the authorities,” said Katerina Bornukova, an expert at the BEROC Center for Economic Research. On the one hand, its entry into force and the attempt to collect a tax from people led to protests this spring. On the other hand, the authorities seem to see the opportunity to completely abandon the decree as a sign of weakness, and the idea of ​​“if you don’t work, pay taxes differently” remains very attractive to them.

How the "plan for dependents" failed: the history of the decree in 5 paragraphs

• The first version of the document was quite tough: in fact, they were obliged to pay the fee, with rare exceptions, to everyone who did not work more than 183 days a year. Moreover, the countdown was from the beginning of 2015, and not from the moment the decree was signed. The list of those who could not work, but at the same time not fall for the tax, was quite short. Basically, these are pensioners, maternity leave, the disabled, the incapacitated and those who live abroad.
• About six months later, they started talking about the fact that the decree would be rewritten. While the government was working on changes, parasites, just in case, were engaged in legalization - they became officially unemployed. According to experts, the "dependant decree" gave a 90% increase in unemployment in 2015. Belarusians have learned that it is possible to stand in line not only at exchange offices, but also at the labor exchange.
• About a year ago, the tax authorities began sending out "letters of happiness" to potential payers. True, far from 400 thousand announced parasites were immediately found. But the tax was charged to those working with a small salary, students left without work after the university, conscript soldiers and other unexpected categories. The President promised that the document would be finalized, but would not be cancelled. The tone of the authorities became softer: those who dared not pay the tax, while they promised not to fine.
• At the beginning of 2017, the decree was finally rewritten for the first time. In addition to the fact that the list of those exempted from tax has expanded, the concept of “difficult life situations” has appeared. They had to go with them to the local authorities and ask for permission not to pay the tax to the treasury. The Tax Office reported that a little more than 50,000 Belarusians paid the fee, that is, 8 times less than the “plan”. Passions ran high over unfair charges, troops from the Presidential Administration went to the places to sort out the most difficult life situations.
• The end of winter - the beginning of spring 2017 passed under the sign of "Marches of non-parasites". Not only politicians took to the streets, but also the same simple people. The authorities partially conceded: they decided to return the tax paid to many, the decree was suspended, but not canceled. Since March, officials have been working on an updated version of the document.

Decree 2.0: will the "true parasites" be found?

Variations of the updated document somehow got into the public domain, but the final version has not yet been signed. It is difficult to say what exactly will change and whether it will change at all. By the way, this time scientists were involved in the development of the document. This, according to Katerina Bornukova, was done to give the decree legitimacy.

Today, developers face a difficult task. It is necessary to develop a mechanism by which the document, on the one hand, will not affect those who could not work for objective reasons. On the other hand, those who are “true parasites” should be identified and taxed, says an expert at the BEROC Center for Economic Research. - Most developed countries solve the problem the other way around: how to provide support to the unemployed, while not issuing benefits to those who do not really want to look for a job. So far they haven't been able to solve the problem. I doubt that we will be able to.

At the same time, it is obvious that our mistake has more negative social consequences: taxing a person who wants, but cannot find a job, is worse than giving money to a real parasite.

Another no less important question, according to the expert: are they in Belarus at all, these “true parasites”?

“There is no de facto system of social support in Belarus, so you won’t be able to live on benefits like in some Germany,” emphasizes Katerina Bornukova. - Most likely, these are people who live on other sources of income. Or they are involved in the shadow economy - and then to find them and bring them to light is not the task of the decree on parasites. Either they receive transfers from their relatives working abroad (or they themselves live and work, for example, in Russia). Then it is not at all clear whether it is worth taxing them additionally. After all, the income of migrants is already taxed in the country in which they are received, and Belarus has signed a lot of treaties on the avoidance of double taxation.

It is also very important that the goals of the decree are still not clear. Increase employment? Improve tax collection? Educate those who do not work? “That is why the task facing the developers of the decree has no solution,” the expert notes.

“We need the presumption of innocence for those suspected of parasitism”

It would be logical to cancel the failed document altogether. But the authorities will go for it only if there is an alternative. “350 thousand people – what are we going to do with them? If you offer an alternative, how to make them work, I will retreat, ”the president said at the end of April.

What will be written in the updated document in the end, one can only guess. What is clear so far is that the rhetoric of the authorities has shifted from “make people pay” to “assistance in finding a job.”

“I would include a kind of presumption of innocence in the decree: I obliged the authorities, first of all, to try to help those suspected of parasitism, provide an opportunity for training, employment, advice on what documents can be provided in order to remove this status,” advises Katerina Bornukova. - Such an approach will make you think carefully before declaring hundreds of thousands of people parasites. After all, then each of them will have to spend time and effort.

At the same time, the "dependent decree" will not exist forever, the expert is convinced. “Most likely, instead of it, we will come to the paid provision of some public services for those who do not pay taxes,” the BEROC expert predicts. This idea, by the way, has been voiced by the authorities more than once. For example, not so long ago, deputies spoke about this - and precisely in the light of the discussion of the sensational decree.

Another expert, senior analyst at Alpari, Vadim Iosub, also believes that "the decree on parasites will be quietly buried." “There is no obligation to work, and in general forced labor is prohibited in the country. But, most likely, this decree will not work in the new version either, it will simply be quietly ignored until everyone forgets about it - pretty soon. That is, it will not be implemented de facto, but, of course, the authorities will never admit that it was initially unenforceable, that it was and remains unconstitutional. This is understandable: it is not in the habits of the Belarusian authorities to admit to mistakes,” Vadim Iosub notes.

Предлагаем посмотреть другие страницы сайта:
← Why Russia keeps billions of state money in the U.S. | France lowers the age limit for sex →