In Vitebsk, about 40% of applicants are exempted from paying the fee under Decree No. 3

The Vitebsk City Council of Deputies delegated the executive committee the right to exempt citizens from paying the fee. This work is carried out by the city commission for considering applications from legal entities, individuals, and individual entrepreneurs for tax benefits and state support. It includes representatives of the tax service, the deputy corps, legal and financial departments, and the department for labor, employment, and social protection, headed by Zinaida Koroleva, Deputy Chairperson of the City Executive Committee.

"During this period, 306 applications were received, and 103 have already been reviewed. In almost 60% of these cases, people were denied due to the lack of grounds and documents confirming a difficult life situation. The rest received a positive decision: the commission recommended exempting these citizens, to one extent or another, from paying the fee for financing state expenditures for 2015. The commission meets as needed: since there is little time left, we are trying to ensure that all applications are considered within the established deadline – February 19 inclusive," noted Zinaida Koroleva.

She explained that each case is considered with an individual approach. An important criterion for exemption from paying the fee is confirmation that the citizen objectively could not work in 2015. The reasons for this situation are varied: medical indications for a child (with the mandatory presence of a supporting document from a medical institution), whose mother is forced to stay with him, and the father cannot substitute for her due to employment; illness of the applicant themselves.

"We take into account periods of study, service in the Armed Forces, and other nuances related, for example, to moving to care for elderly parents. Naturally, a person in such a situation cannot

he could immediately find a job, and often a day or two for him go beyond the period established by law for non-participation in the financing of state expenses," added the deputy chairman of the city executive committee. Today, the city executive committee is holding another commission meeting, which is considering another 38 applications.

For example, a 22-year-old guy, after graduating from college in June 2015, looked for a job on his own for about a year. Now he is employed and earns well, like both parents, with whom he lives. Since the young man did not contact the employment service, and there are no documents confirming his job search and temporary employment until the end of 2015, he was denied exemption from paying the fee.

In another case, the commission met the needs of a 45-year-old man because of his three children, for whom he pays alimony. In July 2013, the man was fired, in 2015 he registered as unemployed, but was removed from the register for failing to appear for two months, then re-registered and finally employed through the employment center. In fact, he violated labor legislation and should not be exempted from payment, but considering that after paying alimony and debts, he has almost no means of subsistence left, the commission decided to exempt him from the fee by 70%.

Of the first seven applicants, three turned out to be young mothers who did not work before the birth of their child. One was dismissed during the liquidation of the enterprise, then underwent treatment. The second just graduated from university in 2015 and looked for a job for a long time on her own, registered with the employment service in April 2016, but then gave birth, her husband lives separately and does not participate in the child's life. The third became a mother for the second child in September 2015 (the first is in the 4th grade), having been dismissed in 2013, she could not find a job. In similar situations, as Zinaida Koroleva noted, the commission supports mothers and exempts them from paying the fee.

Ekaterina Kniazeva - BELTA.