Siarhej Antusievich: Shopping tax smells of racketeering

The introduction of a fee on shopping abroad will not solve Belarusian economy’s systemic problems.

The opinion came from the deputy chairman of the Belarusian Congress of Democratic Trade Unions (BCDTU) Siarhej Antusievich as he commented for the charter97.org web-site on the possibility of the introduction of a fee on shopping abroad, expected within a month.

“This initiative of Lukashenka’s is another completely losing step towards the society. It is not aimed at reforming the economy, but at directive ways of beating money out of people. A shopping tax smells like racketeering. The authorities keep Belarusian hostages and solve their problems with such a racketeering”, - the trade union leader believes.

He is sure that the possibility of the introduction of such a fee is absolutely real.

“Several years ago there were fees at the border, which were allegedly used for improving the border crossing terminals. These fees were small, but border guards simply did not let anyone out without the receipt. That is why it is not difficult to do that from the technical point of view. Another question is how much patience Belarusians have and how they will react to that. The authorities have once again shown how they treat the people and how they will fill in budget holes”, - BCDTU’s deputy chairman is convinced.

According to him, the introduction of a fee for shopping abroad will hardly solve Belarusian economy’s systemic problems.

“It is clear that part of the people will not want to go abroad and will shop here. But those, who do that all the time, will keep going shopping abroad. Now they will try to work off these $100 as best as they can. The economy of Belarus will not improve because of that, it will even deteriorate”, - Siarhej Antusievich highlighted.

We would remind that Belarus’ vice-Prime Minister Piotr Prakapovich claimed today that the issued over the foreign shopping fee will be worked out within a month.