Lukashenko hosts meeting to discuss financial market protection

MINSK, 19 August (BelTA) - Protection of the financial market and the fight against envelope wage practices are high on the agenda of a governmental meeting hosted by Belarus President Aleksandr Lukashenko in the Palace of Independence on 19 August, BelTA learned from the Telegram-channel Pul Pervogo.

“Today’s meeting will focus on the protection of the financial market, comfortable conditions for tax payers and the fight against envelope wage practices in the country. The taxes and duties minister and the head of the State Control Committee are to attend the meeting,” the resource said.

As BelTA reported earlier, these topics have been repeatedly raised at the level of the head of state. On the one hand, the state is doing its best to create the necessary conditions to facilitate tax administration, to make it as transparent and understandable for taxpayers as possible. On the other hand, the president's stringent requirement is to prevent tax law violations since taxes are a significant source of budget revenues and are used, among other things, to fund social needs.

In January 2021, at a meeting with the senior officials of the Council of Ministers, the head of state called for harshest punishment for tax evasion: “The overriding task for all the present here is to harden our stance against tax evasion. We need to model our laws on those applied in the United States. Let's follow their practices. No one will criticize us for that as we will follow the example of the bastion of democracy. They have tough tax regulation and punish harshly for non-payment of taxes. In our country we have entire sectors in shadows, and we seem to be ok with that,” the president said.

Aleksandr Lukashenko has the same stance on envelope wage practices, which are also a form of tax evasion. Receiving the report from Chairman of the State Control Committee Vasily Gerasimov in March 2021, the president said: “We cannot do without you in this matter. We must stop such things happening in Belarus. I would not say that the envelope wage practices are wide-spread in our country, but we have such cases. Even individual entrepreneurs, businessmen approach me and complain that while they pay their workers according to the law, others do not. They even name companies”.

The measures taken in Belarus to improve tax legislation and control have already brought positive results. For example, Minister Sergei Nalivaiko reported that the share of taxes paid voluntarily in Belarus in 2020 increased to 98.2%. This has been the highest figure over the past 10 years. The arrears on taxes and duties of operating businesses and individuals in relation to the planned budget revenues has not exceeded 0.5% in recent years.