The Authorities Decide to "Play" with Business

Independent experts ring the alarm about introduction of check games.

Experts of the Minsk Capital Union of Entrepreneurs and Employers (MCUEE) spoke sharply against the introduction of the check games institute in Belarus, which is carried out by the unitary enterprise of the Ministry of Taxes and Duties of Belarus.

The opinion of experts is reflected in the letter of the OO MCUEE, which is sent to the Ministry of Antimonopoly Regulation and Trade, as well as to the Council for the Development of Entrepreneurship, Ezhednevnik writes.

A possibility of holding check games is introduced by the draft decree "On Holding Check Games", as well as the draft resolution of the Council of Ministers "On Approval of Regulation on the Procedure for Organization and Holding of Check Games."

It is assumed that an individual who has received a payment document for purchased goods (work, service) will be able to register such payment document in a special Internet resource and he will automatically become an applicant for a certain prize. Naturally, if a buyer is not given a check, he will not be able to participate in the game.

According to the document developers, this should encourage individuals to always demand the issue of a check when buying goods (work, services), which in turn minimizes illegal payments in cash and increases tax receipts.

The organization and holding of check games will be carried out by RUP Information and Publishing Center for Taxes and Duties". A prize fund of the check game will be formed at its expense and "not exceeding 20 percent of the fee for information service of users of the cash register control system, including the monthly fee, received in the previous month."

According to experts of the OO MCUEE, the analysis of the above-mentioned draft regulations showed that measures proposed were an attempt to introduce new fees on entrepreneurs and new administrative procedures.

Experts believe that this will eventually lead to the creation of additional barriers for legal business in our country.

"In our opinion, the drafts of the Decree and the Resolution intend the introduction of additional financial burden on the real sector of the economy in the form of "subscription fee "and additional deductions from all sales of goods, performance of work, rendering of services which, in fact, creates an additional financial burden in a compulsory non-fiscal form", the letter of the OO MCUEE says.

Experts believe that business entities will be forced to attribute new costs to the increase in prices and tariffs, which may lead to an increase in inflation. Consequently, this will worsen the situation of the country's population, since both work and services will rise in price.

The Union pays a special attention to the fact that the draft Decree already provides for the super-profitability of this activity. According to paragraph 1.3 of the draft decree, a prize fund will "not exceed 20 percent of the fee for information service of users of the cash register control system, including the monthly fee, received in the previous month." Accordingly, 80% of this amount is a profit of an enterprise, and this is already a super profit of the monopolist - RUP Information and Publishing Center for Taxes and Duties.

"Even when holding lotteries, 50% of the collected amount is spent on the formation of the prize money, and it is where a voluntary principle exists," the letter says.

Union experts believe that these regulatory acts are "an attempt to create an additional source of revenue for RUP Information and Publishing Center for Taxes and Duties by non-market measures."

In addition, the introduction of check games is essentially a new form of control, bypassing Decree No. 510 on the part of the enterprise (RUP), which contradicts the president's position that control is a function of the state, but not the enterprises.

Summarizing all above-mentioned information, OO MCUEE notes in the letter that it "will cause the creation of additional barriers for a legal business in the Republic of Belarus, and also may deteriorate the country's position in the rating of Doing Business."