BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

10/12/2007

Belarusian businessmen protest proposed tax hike

Minsk - More than 1,000 Belarusian businessmen and small traders marched in the capital Minsk on Monday to protest planned tax hikes on private commerce. The demonstrators gathered in Oktober Square with banners reading "For the Free Development of Business!" and "Allow Commerce to Grow!"

Public opposition to the government of Belarus' authoritarian President Aleksander Lukashenko is rare. Police presence during the demonstration was moderate, but law enforcers by midday had made no move to interfere with the peaceful protestors.

Some marchers chanted "Business has been rolled up by the government!" and "Down with the Presidential orders!

Protestors had gathered to object to tax law changes planned to go into effect at the beginning of 2008 which, if enforced, would make most small businesses unprofitable.

Belarus' private sector is tiny and heavily regulated by the Lukashenko government, which supports central planning of most sectors of the economy and assumes private business should be taxed to a maximum.

Marchers said that if the new tax laws go into effect they would retaliate by shutting down their businesses - a move which potentially could deprive many Belarusians of a wide range of consumer items, staple foods, and modern services.

The small business strike would, if it persisted, likely make more difficult Lukashenko's hold on large cities.

Lukashenko is generally popular in Belarus due to substantial government assistance to the poor and a powerful police state apparatus.

Increased pressure on the Belarusian national government budget, in large part due to fuel price increases by Russia, has obliged Lukashenko to search for means of increasing tax revenues.

Source:

http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/156131.html