Something Odd Happens To The Road Tax

Why is Lukashenka so fond of posing problems to himself?

On 31 May it became known that the proposal of the Ministry of Finance to remove the state toll from the MOT test was failed at the level of Lukashenka.

Meanwhile, the draft decree had already been prepared and was under consideration by the administration of Lukashenka. The authorities themselves stated that the new rules would come into force on April 1. At the end of 2018, Prime Minister Siarhei Rumas called 1 July 2019, the deadline. Now the authorities say that the unpopular scheme is valid for 2019.

Charter97.org asked the leader of the REP Independent Trade Union Henadz Fiadynich to comment on the situation, which affects almost every Belarusian family:

- In a normal country, any decision-making process takes into account the interests of citizens and the interests of the state. But it's not our story.

Let's see what interests the state has here. They are primitive: to get as much money from a person who has a car and drives it once a week within four months as from a person who drives every day and can cover 40.000 kilometres a year.

Where is justice? I wonder why this power, starting with Lukashenka, is so fond of posing problems to itself. After all, it's much easier to include the road tax in the cost of fuel and to forget about it. It is not difficult to do. Let the authorities not pretend.

Let a person pay as much as he consumes fuel. At least it is fair to its citizens. Instead, officials follow the trodden path - to bleed people white.

If the authorities do not understand the aspirations of people, their reasonable demands, it's time to take more effective measures.

- What kind of measures?

- I guess someone has a very short memory and doesn't remember blocked avenues by motorists.

If Lukashenka and his officials want the regional centres and the centre of Minsk blocked by motorists driving at low speed, they are welcome.

If the authorities ignore citizens, history shows that citizens respond with more decisive measures.

It is odd why the authorities have not realised that it is much more advantageous to solve issues in a civilized manner. Why was there no round table or public hearing organised on the topic that affects almost every family?

They made a decision behind the scenes, then they behaved differently to their own shame...

They succeed in raising the gasoline price by a kopeck every week. But they lack the ingenuity to solve the issue of road tax, don't they?

I consider it just disrespect to all Belarusians because every family has a car now. At present, there is only one solution, if they do not want to further annoy the people: to make the tax a part of the fuel price.

- The road tax has been in effect for a long time. Have you noticed any roads improvement?

- Central roads in Minsk, the major highways, of course, look good.

But believe me, this is not about all roads in district centres and rural areas.

In fact, something odd happens with this road tax. If you have introduced the road tax, there should be reports available: we've raised -x- millions of rubles, the money is aimed at restoring these and those roads. In the city of "N" and "M", the roads are fully restored: you can make sure of their quality.

This will be fair. But is this information available? We do not even know how much money has been collected.

The unbinding of the road tax to the MOT test was scheduled for April 1. Later, a long pause followed and the decree was cancelled at the level of Lukashenka. What does such inconsistency of the authorities indicate?

Consistency is observed only when the situation of citizens deteriorates: to raise the retirement age, to withdraw pensions due to the increase in the pension insurance record, to raise tariffs for housing and communal services, to leave families of "parasites" without sick leaves.

But they stuck when it's needed to act in the opposite direction. The positive dynamics to show people some changes for the better has long been forgotten in the country.

And the main thing is this pompousness, arrogance behind Drazdy fences. It would be great for them to admit their mistakes and ask for a piece of advice.

We live in this state. The idea of the state is a compromise, a social contract. Stop living on a collective farm! Aren't you tired of the fact that you're treated only as directors of a collective farm?

After all, the time will come and all your schemes will open up; everything will become transparent. Sooner or later we will see it. If the government believes that people can be easily deceived and it will be forgotten; it poses grave problems for the future.

Yes, Belarusians are tolerant, but our memory is good. And Lukashenka and his people keep repeating the same mistakes. What do they hope for?

They think that people will not rise, don't they? Their hope is idle. One cannot test people's patience and observe how far it may come. As soon as the Rubicon is crossed, it will be late to guess reasons and who is to blame.

- More than half of the Belarusian drivers have no MOT test certificate. Can we say that the road tax will be boycotted?

- Of course, drivers will ignore this absurdity. Drivers do not want to waste their money. It is a natural right of a person to know how his money is spent.

It is quite possible that the preservation of the old principle of the road tax collection may cause a manyfold increase in the fine for the absence of the MOT test certificate. Probably, they want to introduce new traffic rules for this purpose.

But it's not about the rules, but to what extent people will tolerate. They used to be silent, then they spoke out in kitchens. Now they discuss it in queues, in public transport, on street actions in Brest, Svetlahorsk and other cities.

It seems that it is on the rise. Someone in power does his best to make people furious. And, as they say, thank him for his work.

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