Kazakhstan, Astana, August 1 / Trend D.Mukhtarov /
Kazakh farmers have once again appealed to the government with request not to abolish the single land tax, spokesman for the Union of Farmers of Kazakhstan RPO Alikhan Kenzhe told Trend.
"According to the farmers, the elimination of the single land tax amounts to signing a death sentence for all the country's agriculture. On July 31 of this year, farmers of Kazakhstan sent an appeal to the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Agriculture and the National Chamber of Entrepreneurs Atameken", Kenzhe said.
According to him, farmers believe that the abolition of the single land tax would be a blow to the country's food security.
This is not the first appeal of farmers to government agencies. Although previous appeals could bring over some of the initiators of the single tax's abolition, the issue was not removed from the agenda, and active discussions on this matter are still continuing.
The main argument of the authors of the reform is that the rise in the cost of land will make its use more effective. Opponents of reform argue that the introduction of the so-called "simplified taxation" will significantly complicate the procedure of taxation and make it more bureaucratic, which would entail new costs for the farmers related to involvement of professional accountants.
In many villages, there are no accountants at all. In addition, the tax burden will rise, and this will not positively affect the economy of small and medium-sized farms that produce the lion's share of agricultural products in the country.
According to the Statistics Agency of Kazakhstan, of 146,000 peasant (farmer) households that have at their disposal arable land, 123,000 households, or 84 percent, possess fewer than 50 acres of arable land. By all parameters and criteria, it is a small-scale production. But in reality, they provide the country's food security.
As the Union of Farmers of Kazakhstan reported, the contribution of large farms in the agricultural production is relatively small, and they produce mainly cereals and oilseeds.