Belarus to tax the unemployed because of “social parasitism” – IOTW Report

Belarus to tax the unemployed because of “social parasitism”

RFE: Several hundred people have staged a protest in the southwestern Belarusian city of Pinsk, calling for the scrapping of a law imposing a tax on jobless people.

rfe

The March 11 protest was the latest in series of demonstrations against the law, despite authoritarian President Alyaksandr Lukashenka announcing that he was suspending its application for one year in order to “correct” it and carry it out next year.

Lukashenka said the law, which is reminiscent of Soviet-era legislation, was needed to fight what he has called “social parasitism.” The legislation has sparked protests across the nation of 10 million. It imposes a special tax on Belarusians who work less than half of a calendar year and do not register at the country’s labor bureaus.

The law, however, exempts registered job-seekers, homemakers, subsistence farmers, and Belarusians working in Russia.  read more here

9 Comments on Belarus to tax the unemployed because of “social parasitism”

  1. The purpose of gov’t isn’t to make you pay for things; the purpose is to make you pay for the thing multiple times – over and over again.

    The income tax is especially designed for this. Take a pound of iron ore, and follow it from being dug out of the ground until it’s a shiny new ball-bearing in the wheel of a car sitting in some driveway. Look at how many times it has been taxed (and not just as income, either). The guy who dug it, the machinery he dug with, the transportation to smelting, the smelting, the casting, the transportation to finishing, the finishing, the installation into a race, the race, the lathe and milling equipment, the machinists, the assemblers, transportation to the auto assembly, the driver, the truck, the gasoline, the UAW, the political payoffs, the scim, the car dealer, the salesman, the purchase tax, the registration, the insurance.
    I’m sure Uncle Al could describe it all more comprehensively, but you get the drift.
    The Belorussians know the scam as well as anyone.
    So, why not? Tax the parasites, and maybe they’ll move on.
    America and the EU seem to be seeking more parasites …

    izlamo delenda est …

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