Ministry of Labour: If you don't want to pay “sponger” tax, don't buy products

Authors of scandalous ordinance No.3 will monitor its implementation and may amend it later.

The statement was made by deputy minister of trade and social protection Valery Kavalkou, tut.by reports.

The ordinance should work in its present form by the end of the year to show its possible flaws, the ministry’s representative says. “We didn't have the aim of setting strict frames that cannot be fulfilled when we were writing the ordinance. We tried to take into account all reasonable kinds of socially useful activities. In no case should specialists pay this tax. If we missed something by mistake, if there are any questions, we will discuss all variants,” Valery Kavalkou said.

The deputy minister of labour and social protection thinks the authors of the document foresaw almost all disputable issues. The only exception is the possibility to live on one's savings. However, officials think it is a point of discussion. “It occurs that I worked three years and can be a social parasite for 10 years. Maybe it's not right,” the deputy minister says. “On the other hand, someone managed to earn more money, pay more taxes and probably helped to support our agriculture with his taxes, helped to set the current prices of agricultural products.”

You cannot live in the state and be free from it, Valery Kavalkou is confident. “I count everything, including living in a flat, electricity, gas, water, heating, transport. Well, not all tax-payers use own cars. But we have subsidised products. In this case, don't use any social benefits,” Valery Kavalkou notes.

Specialists of the Ministry of Labour and other agencies responsible for the ordinance answer questions about principles of the document. For example, a man recently asked if his wife and he can care for their child, who is under the age of 3, for 6 months by turn. “The ordinance says that one parents is exempt from the tax for a period of childcare. But if both parents don't work and care for their child, it is, perhaps, not normal,” the deputy minister says. If each of the parents work at least 183 days a year, they don't need to pay the tax.

Anwers to most questions about the ordinance can be found in the text of the document, the ministry's representative notes. “We cannot say we are deluged with questions. The number of letters about the ordinance does not exceed the number of letters about pensions,” Valery Kavalkou says.

People can sign the online petition for cancelling the ordinance on “social parasitism”. The petition has been signed by more than 31,000 people. Specialists of the Ministry of Labour know about the campaign and read comments to the petition. “Collecting signatures is the right of people. But only the head of state can cancel the ordinance,” Valery Kavalkou notes. “Many things proposed by people have no relation to labour or contributions to the state.”

Ordinance No.3 “On preventing freeloading practices” was signed by Lukashenka on April 2. Comments to the ordinance say that the document is supposed to “engage able-bodied persons in labor and to ensure that they take part in the financing of public spending.”

The ordinance obliges citizens of the Republic of Belarus, foreign nationals permanently residing in the country and stateless persons who did not participate in the financing of public spending or took part in this financing during a period of less than 183 calendar days in the expired year to pay a fee in the size of 20 basic amounts.