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Siarhei Antusevich: Next tax will be on air

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Siarhei Antusevich: Next tax will be on air

The authorities invent new ways to extort money from people in their efforts to refill the budget.

Siarhei Antusevich, the deputy head of the Belarusian Congress of Democratic Trade Unions, spoke to charter97.org about a possible tax on cars.

“It's a way to collect money. They were apparently given a task to look for money everywhere – where it can and cannot be. Of course, they can impose taxes on everything following the example of Europe and say, 'Look, we do what Europe does.' But it's clear that we and European countries have completely different levels of incomes and the social protection,” the trade union leader emphasised.

Siarhei Antusevich noted that different cars have different levels of air pollution depending on their age and engine.

“If they have the aim of collecting additional money, it would be logical to add it to fuel prices. The more a car is used, the more it pollutes the environment. People who go to the country once a week should not pay as much as those using their cars every day. As for parking lots, it's a great problem in Minsk and regional centres. A systematic approach is needed. Ladutska's proposal to attract people to pay for parking lots construction shows that the state doesn't want to invest in the social infrastructure. It's clear what result can be expected,” the deputy head of the Belarusian Congress of Democratic Trade Unions thinks.

The trade union leader notes that the current taxes should be enough for the social standards implementation.

“We reach the level when the next initiative of the authorities will be a tax on the air. There can be different kinds of taxes, but the state cannot sponge on it forever. It will have to answer sooner or later. Everything we hear now is just words, but the authorities put out feelers to see a public reaction. The same was with a tax on crossing the border,” Siarhei Antusevich thinks.

We remind that the Belarusian authorities want to introduce a car tax that will include taxes on ecology, parking lots and space.

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