Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya: “Today, dozens of markets and malls across Belarus got empty for a single day. Shoppers saw closed pavilions as salespeople refused to go to work.
It happened not even because the income has dropped due to the crisis or because the taxes have been constantly increasing. The regime has long started to fight entrepreneurship: it is not so much concerned about the entrepreneurs’ contribution to the economy as it is about its inability to control thousands of free people. This is the reason why the authorities in Belarus suspended registering new sole proprietorships a year ago and why from next year the tax will be raised to a level that is overwhelming for many artisans and traders.
As always, the government uses the tools it is familiar with, humiliation and intimidation. In recent weeks, absurd price control laws, a wave of inspections, and unwarranted fines have fallen on entrepreneurs.
Over the years, Belarusian entrepreneurs have adapted many times to new, each time increasingly difficult working conditions, working even harder to provide for their families. But now they simply do not know what to do to avoid going bankrupt at least and being imprisoned at worst.
Belarusians have long been accustomed to no help or support from the government and constant restrictions. People only demand basic respect, transparent rules, and working laws in return. But all they get is a new round of crudeness and humiliation.
Officials fostering restrictions and collecting fines seem to forget who actually pays their salaries. It is the taxpayers who employ the state apparatus. Not the other way around. And all taxpayers have the right to demand not only respect for their work, but also adequate support from the state they maintain.
