Tax Revolt in Belarus Turning to Mass Arrests

For weeks now, thousands of people have gone public in Belarus to protest against a special tax for ‘little workers’ and demanded the resignation of Aleksandr Grigoryevich Lukashenko who has been the autocratic President of Belarus, in office since July 20th, 1994. Lukashenko had issued a decree that people who work less than six months a year have to pay a tax of 189 euros. This was to prevent ‘social parasitism’, which he explained was the justification. In view of the protests, he temporarily suspended the decree, but the crisis is getting worse.
Lukashenko is seen by many as really a dictator. His police arrests those who were going to speak at the protest and they stormed the human rights office arresting people there in advance. The instability building in Belarus is really serious. Additionally, Lukashenko has lashed out at Russia and accused Moscow of violating their 20-year old border agreement, in a escalating dispute that has become a source of tension with his country’s neighbor and strongest ally. It appears that we will see the collapse of the current government by 2020.

This post was published at Armstrong Economics on Mar 27, 2017.