Knitting, willow weaving, and felt boot making are the most common crafts in the Vitebsk region

May 17, Vitebsk / Diana Kurilo - BELTA /. Knitting, willow weaving, and felting of valenki are the most common types of craft activities in the Vitebsk region, the Vitebsk regional tax inspection told a BELTA correspondent. Among the rarest crafts, according to tax inspectors, are embroidery, lacemaking, cooperage, and bookbinding. There are not even a dozen masters who own this art. It is noteworthy that bookbinding is done only in the homeland of the first Belarusian book printer Francysk Skaryna in the Polotsk district. In addition, in the Vitebsk region, artisans make kitchen utensils and tools from wood, make beehives, and engage in artistic wood carving; blacksmithing, hand weaving, and patchwork sewing have not disappeared. And in the Dvina region, they know how to weave with beads, make toys, handmade leather goods, and artificial flowers. The leaders in the number of artisans are Vitebsk, Orsha, Polotsk, Novopolotsk. Among rural districts, the largest number of them are registered in Postavy, Verkhnedvinsk, and Glubokoye districts. As of May 1, there were 636 artisans in the region as a whole, with their number increasing by more than 200 people over the year, and by almost two dozen in April of the current year. According to inspectors, the development of crafts is facilitated by favorable conditions for carrying out such activities enshrined in legislation: it is carried out on a declarative basis without registering as an individual entrepreneur, artisans do not pay income tax or a single tax, do not submit tax returns, are exempt from keeping records of income and expenses, and also from keeping state statistical reporting. The only thing artisans pay is a fee for carrying out their activities, the amount of which is equal to one basic unit per year. In the current year, artisans have replenished the local budget by Br10.3 million. -0-