Ministry Of Labor Reports On Charging "Parasites" Full Payment For Utility Services

The decision on raising utility payments for the relatives of the unemployed will be taken in the housing and utilities sector.

In late January, Lukashenka signed the new version of the decree on "parasitism." It is a mystery how exactly it will work – the details will be known on April 1. It is only known that non-working people will have to pay in full for some of the services that are subsidized by the state. We remind that earlier, they had to pay a fixed tax, kp.by writes.

Last time, the Ministry of Taxes and Levies managed to send over 470,000 notifications on paying the fee. How many "parasites" will they be able to find now?

– If we proceed from the balance of labor resources for 2016, it could be about 250 thousand people, – Aleh Tokun, the head of the Employment Policy Department of the Ministry of Labor, said in the program Spot-On Microphone on the first national channel of the Belarusian Radio. – The official statistics do not know what they do. Yes, perhaps, they are the migrants who have left. But, of course, there will be some people who are in the sidelines, working illegally.

Last time, there were a lot of those among 470 thousand people who were notified by mistake. How will the database on "parasites" be established now?

– Such mechanisms will exist, and they will be based on the already tried-and-tested experience of the Ministry of Taxes and Levies, even though it’s negative every so often. That is why the decree puts emphasis on local authorities, which will draw up these lists. Where else, if not at the local level, do they know about each person? – Aleh Tokun comments.

Of course, they will rely not only on the local authorities’ information. First, the base will be created by using all-republic sources, primarily the Social Protection Fund, the Ministry of Taxes and Levies, employment services. Then it will be filtered at the local level.

It is still unknown who is going to be considered a parasite by the new decree. Experts suggest that the list of those released from the "punishment for non-working" will remain the same, that is, pensioners, students, women on maternity leaves, mothers of children under 7, those who live abroad, and so on.

It is also unknown for what services in particular the new parasites will have to pay in full, but primarily it concerns utility payments. The main question is how to set a full utility payment only for a parasite, and not for those who, for example, live together with him.

– I think all these issues will be resolved by the specialists of housing and communal services. I know that they are already working hard to work out these issues, – Aleh Tokun explains.