Russian Labor Ministry mulls tax on non-working people

MOSCOW, May 12 (PRIME) -- The Russian government is studying imposition of a tax on working-age, but not working people, similar to a mechanism used in Belarus, Deputy Labor and Social Protection Minister Andrei Pudov said Thursday at a conference.

“Our colleagues from Belarus may share their experience of serious innovations. They have imposed a so-called tax on individuals that are capable to work but don’t pay any insurance payments and are not in employment relations…We are discussing the issue, but they have already made such a decision,” he said.

Russia’s labor market legalization is the ministry’s priority. For now, it is acting with administrative measures, which produced 2 million new labor contracts signed in 2015 and more than 400,000 contracts signed so far in 2016, he said. “This is a reason to develop legislative measures,” he said.

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