Russia loves tax evaders

Mother Russia has never been afraid to do things her own way. Most recently, the Finance Ministry decided that governments who have been spending copious amounts of time and effort trying to curtail tax evasion have it dead wrong and are taking a different approach. To encourage economic growth by allowing people to spend their money instead of handing it over to the government, the Finance Ministry has backed a multifaceted plan from the Duma to withhold criminal charges for first time tax evaders and raise the evasion amounts that would qualify for criminal charges for repeat! offenders.

For individuals, the criminal charges for major tax evasion would rise to 500,000 rubles unpaid (if the percentage of unpaid taxes is more than 10 percent of the overall sum) or up to 1.5 million rubles ($47,000). Massive tax evasion would be up to 2.5 million rubles (when 20 percent is unpaid) or 7.5 million rubles ($234,000).
At least one government is getting serious about reducing the tax burden on its people.