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Here are two more people I’m going to vote for.
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in the election.
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Because to me, they are the foundation of the country, while
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to the current state, they are more like
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this kind of
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annoying nuisance that needs to be
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squeezed for as much money as possible and, generally speaking,
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kept on a very tight leash.
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Pavel and Polina are representatives of small
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business, and unlike a lot of
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people, I know that in wealthy countries about
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half of all employed people work for small
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businesses, and it is small business that
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creates jobs first and foremost.
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That’s why people like them matter to me so much. My name is
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Polina, and my husband Pavel is
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a sole proprietor. We have
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a small family business. We
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repair leather goods, and
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I’ve been in this business for more than six years.
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I own a workshop, and the number of orders
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keeps growing.
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The best part is that the work
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has become meaningful to us; we make many things
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for the whole city, and sometimes not only in
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our city — people from other cities
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reach out to us as well. In fact, when you
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make something from nothing, let’s say,
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it brings tremendous satisfaction. Over
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all the time I’ve been working in this
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business, taxes have only gone up. And not only
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do they go up — new ones keep appearing.
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New charges.
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So every year we pay
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more and more. If we’re talking about profit,
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then as far as actual profit is concerned, we
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unfortunately can’t really speak of any, because
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everything we earn
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each month goes toward rent for the premises,
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our employees’ wages,
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and all the additional payments we make into social
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funds. That is, we pay 13 percent
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of their salary, we pay into
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the pension fund, we pay into social insurance.
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The list is quite extensive. As
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an accountant, when it comes to reporting, I can
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say this: compared with others, we probably
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suffer less than most, because
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we are on UTII (Russia’s former unified tax on imputed income).
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And we have quarterly — the main
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reporting is only for employees.
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I report monthly, but even that
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is enough
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to make sure I have no days off. Either
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I have to go to some fund because
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some questions have come up and I’m required to
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show up,
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or there’s some desk audit and I need
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to come in.
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In other words, my presence is needed here and there
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all the time, so yes, I have no days off.
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I spend all my weekends dealing with
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workshop business.
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The introduction of online cash registers in our business
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most likely won’t lead to anything good.
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It means buying equipment,
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registering it,
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maintaining it, and technical support,
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monthly — I already looked into it — so from
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around 3,000 to 4,000 rubles a month (roughly $30–$40).
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A small entrepreneur, so to speak, takes off
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the state’s shoulders the burden of supporting themselves and their family,
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and if they employ someone, then
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those people as well. That means there’s no need
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to pay them unemployment
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benefits, subsidies, and so on
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and so forth.
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So if our
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business collapses, the state’s costs will be much higher.
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Why crush it? Leave us
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alone a little, and we’ll gradually
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manage on our own.
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My goal is not to squeeze
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as much tax as possible out of small
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businesses and force them to file endless reports. There is
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no economic sense in that. Right now, all
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the taxes collected from them amount to a mere 300
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89 billion rubles (about 389 billion rubles total),
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which is peanuts on a national scale — and on top of that, you still have to
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maintain an army of officials who
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monitor small business.
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President Navalny would want
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Polina and Pavel, and people like them, first of all
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to earn more and become more prosperous; second,
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to hire people
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and pay them decent wages.
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That is why we will give full freedom to
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small business, abolish almost all
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reporting requirements, almost all regulation and
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licensing, leaving it only
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where it is absolutely essential.
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No more trips to the tax office or
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pension funds: you notify the city administration by
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email that you are now
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a small entrepreneur, and you simply
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work while paying a small
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fixed patent fee. We will reduce the so-called
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payroll taxes so that
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small businesses
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can pay their employees wages officially,
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on the books, instead of under the table. And these
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measures will lead to economic growth,
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the creation of a middle class, and ultimately
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to an increase in the amount of tax revenue
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we receive. Russia will become richer,
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and that is exactly why I want to become
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president.