Leonid Zaiko: “Small Vendors Won’t Survive” :: Charter'97 :: News

The decree number 285 “On certain measures of regulating entrepreneur activity” signed by A.Lukashenka on June 18, can lead to a considerable reduction of sole traders’ number, the experts say.

As we have informed, the decree envisages a possibility to pay the value-added tax (VAT) in a “fixed sum” from August 1, 2005 to December 31, 2006. The fixed rate of the VAT is employed for the goods imported from Russia without accompanying documents intended for retail trade. From August 1, in case the goods are imported without accompanying documents, sole traders will have to pay the VAT of two times the amount of the single tax on sole traders. The basic rate of the single tax is to depend on the region and the sphere of the traders’ work. They are to pay for every trading place where goods from Russia are sold, no matter which share of such goods in general inventory of goods is. Nevertheless, the law does not fix the rate. Local authorities will define what sum a businessman should pay.

Commenting on these innovations for the BelaPAN, deputy chairman of the Republican public association “Perspektiva” Alyaksandr Lapatko noted that he had not found any good points for the small-scale business in this decree. As aid by Lapatko, by the end of the year the number of small traders is to drop by several thousands by the end if this year, especially in regions. “It is a ruin to pay 500-700,000 Br a month for a small town dweller. The state has not chosen the policy of stabilisation in the sphere of small business activities. It looks like it is more advantageous for the state when people would smuggle goods”.
As economist Leonid Zaiko, the head of the analytic center “Strategy”, believes, “the regime has fallen into a trap, when, unlike in neighbouring countries, it tries to apply to the small-scale business the same laws as are applied for MAZ or other giant enterprises”. The economist believes that the country is at the final stage of entrepreneurship’s dying. Small dealers won’t survive”.