Siarhei Antusevich: New duty on cars looks like joke about Brezhnev

A new duty on cars won't solve economic problems, but will cause public discontent.

Siarhei Antusevich, a deputy chairman of the Belarusian Congress of Democratic Trade Unions (BCDTU), spoke to charter97.org about the proposal to introduce a state duty to permit cars to use roads in 2014.

“It looks like a joke about Brezhnev, when chickens were dying in the chicken house and he made different suggestions on how to stop it. When all chickens died, he said: 'It's really a pity, because I still have plenty of brilliant ideas.' The authorities try to use things that the Belarusians will use by all means. The scheme will work. This duty will like compulsory insurance or MOT tests. You can drive without paying the duty, but you will have to pay a fine. I think the duty may satisfy the government's needs of revenues to the budget, but the authorities cannot sponge on Belarusians endlessly,” the trade union leader is convinced.

The BCDTU deputy head emphasised that it was another trick to extort money from the population.

“I cannot say now how painful it will be for people and whether it will be the last straw. I think it will hardly be. As with the $100 exit duty, the authorities launch a trial balloon to see the public reaction. If it will be too negative, they won't dare impose the duty. Such measures are not popular among people. They cannot find public approval. In general, it is impossible to build the country's economy in this way. Increasing the industrial efficiency is needed,” Siarhei Antusevich said.

We remind that Aleh Seliverstau, the deputy head of the main department for budgetary policy at the Belarusian Ministry of Finance, said that the government's proposals on the taxation policy for 2014 provided for the possible introduction of a state duty to permit cars to use roads.