Session to discuss improvement of certain aspects of taxation and collection of land charges

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We need to maintain the stability of the Belarusian tax system, Belarus President Aleksandr Lukashenko said at the session held on 2 November to discuss the improvement of certain aspects of taxation and collection of land charges.

Draft decrees regarding the harmonization of a number of legal acts with the Tax Code which entered into force on 1 January have been submitted to the head of state. The amendments, first of all, apply to land charges and other administrative procedures, particularly, the collection of state duties, patent and consular fees.

Aleksandr Lukashenko stressed that the taxation system should be flexible. “Of course, everyone is happy when the optimization of this system leads to the reduction of taxes. Not many people think that these taxes are, first of all, used for the benefit of the state, used to support civil servants, doctors, teachers, those who are in charge of defense and security,” the President noted.

At the same time, the President stressed that the tax system should be very stable. “We promised our people that at least within a financial year we will not touch the taxation system; it is even better to leave the system unchanged for five years and to try to eliminate as many drawbacks as possible,” the head of state said.

The President emphasized that in this difficult period fine-tuning is more important than certain drastic innovations and the increase in tax rates.

At the end of the session the head of state approved the submitted documents and gave an instruction to finalize them taking into account all the discussions and to submit them for signing shortly.

After the session Belarus’ Finance Minister Vladimir Amarin told reporters that the amendments are technical in nature and will not affect taxpayers. “We are not going to raise major tax rates or worsen other conditions,” he said.