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18 January 2021, 17:30

Belarusian tax minister talks about tax burden, budget revenues, vehicle tax

MINSK, 18 January (BelTA) – Belarusian Tax and Duties Minister Sergei Nalivaiko talked about the tax burden, revenues of the state budget, and the vehicle tax on the air of the TV channel Belarus One, BelTA has learned.

The performance of the Belarusian economy in 2020 when some enterprises had problems due to the pandemic did not have a substantial effect on tax revenues. According to Sergei Nalivaiko, tax revenues exceeded Br27 billion according to the latest data. Tax revenues traditionally make up over 70% of the budget revenues. In comparison with 2019 the figures did not change despite all kinds of destructive calls for not paying the taxes, the official said. Revenues in H2 2020 exceeded revenues of H1 2020 by 13%. “I would certainly like to thank our law-abiding and responsible taxpayers for their civil stance and social responsibility,” Sergei Nalivaiko said.

The number of commercial entities grew by about 12,000 in 2020. “In my opinion, the tax service contributed to it as well from the point of view of simpler tax administration and the enabling of comfortable conditions for doing business,” the official added.

Speaking about the vehicle tax, Sergei Nalivaiko said that those, who paid the state duty for access to public roads in 2020, will have to pay the vehicle tax once that sum has been depleted. “There will be no double taxation. Local tax offices will calculate the vehicle tax for natural persons. In my opinion, one can draw a parallel with property taxes. Just like citizens receive notifications about paying taxes on real estate, on land, notifications about the need to pay the vehicle tax will be sent roughly in the same manner,” Sergei Nalivaiko explained.

In his words, the Tax and Duties Ministry is now working with the Internal Affairs Ministry in order to update the registered vehicles database and work out guidelines on more easily deleting outdated records.

The tax and duties minister assured that the tax burden will not change in 2021. “The handful of the tax preferences that have been cancelled in no way affect the overall tax burden, because the number of commercial entities and the number of people the changes have affected is miniscule,” Sergei Nalivaiko said. “The Tax and Duties Ministry believes these tax preferences have been abolished not for the sake of increasing state budget revenues but for the sake of levelling the playing field, for the sake of social justice. In my opinion, the pinpoint decisions that have been made – for instance, raising the profit tax for telecommunication companies, raising the income tax for natural persons employed by companies residing in the Hi-Tech Park and the China-Belarus industrial park Great Stone up to the level the rest of the citizens pay – level the competition conditions and equalize social justice. In an ideal world we would not want any preferences at all, except for social ones. We could reduce the general taxation rates in that case.”

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