Tax service was ordered not to suffocate private business

Aliaksandr Lukashenka demanded to optimise and simplify tax policy in the sphere of business activity. According to the official sources, 13 November during the meeting on forecast projects of social and economic development, budget and main directions of monetary policy for 2008 and on the results of the social and economic development for 9 months of 2007, Lukashenka declared:

“We aren’t going to suffocate both private and state business by unclear calculations of the taxes that should be paid by enterprises. Today all – from an ordinary businessman to director of a big enterprise – are complaining that they have to employ 5 book-keepers to understand the taxation instructions”.

“One more similar complaint - and the tax service will come in for a trouble. Today, business even if it is ready to pay mach taxes, can’t know well all these requirements”.

It should be reminded that within the last months the cases of arbitrary examination of individual entrepreneurs on markets and shopping centers by taxing bodies have become more frequent. The entrepreneurs were fined on any, sometimes absolutely insignificant reasons.

Moreover the state campaign of forced re-registering of entrepreneurs into unitary enterprises has eventuated in failure. More than 9.00 individual entrepreneurs gave document for re-registration into unitary private enterprises. But there are 200.000 entrepreneurs in Belarus. So, less than 5 per cent of the entrepreneurs yielded to the massive propaganda campaign organised by the authorities via state mass media.

Entrepreneurs explain their unwillingness to re-register into unitary private enterprises with high taxes, and serious penal sanctions, applied to unitary enterprises.