Translated material
Hardware fight
The Prime Minister was asked to cancel cash registers for small businesses
“Give us cheap gas and electricity and abolish cash registers!” These are the main requirements of small businesses to economic authorities today. These statements were also made at the Government Council on Competitiveness and Entrepreneurship. Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov, who received a direct appeal from the head of the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade German Gref (“Mikhail Efimovich, only your intervention”), thought for a minute whether it was worth going against the Ministry of Finance, which the president highly values, for the sake of the “kids.”Despite the intercession of the country's chief economist, as well as the lobbying of the Chairman of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry Yevgeny Primakov and the head of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs Alexander Shokhin, the Prime Minister was in no hurry to make a decision. He behaved according to his experience working in law enforcement agencies: “In order to make, as you say, political decisions on cash registers and access to networks, I must understand. These benefits that we may need to give to small businesses , who are we giving them to? Isn’t it speculators?”
In general, based on a certain mentality of the people known to him alone, Mr. Fradkov kept trying to understand: is a small business an owner, a private owner, a speculator, or nothing else yet? Have you reached the point where high-ranking leaders make big political decisions for them, the “little ones”?! OPORA President Sergei Borisov said that small businesses have matured long ago, become full-fledged owners, and the problem of abolishing cash registers is a matter of quality and efficiency of work. Government defender of entrepreneurs German Gref called the Ministry of Finance’s fight for cash registers “stupidity that has no basis in any motivation.” “We went over the need for cash registers (annually the cost of maintaining them costs small businesses 20 billion rubles) at meetings with Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Zhukov, and no one was able to convincingly prove why they were needed. Their abolition would be a great gift,” Mr. Gref tenderly explained.
There was no one to explain the position of the Ministry of Finance, Alexei Kudrin was absent, and the prime minister continued to seem to think as the play progressed. Moreover, there was a reason to be distracted - the head of government was extremely offended by something. Mr. Gref said, seemingly casually: “According to surveys, schoolchildren do not want to go into business, but want to be either officials or work in law enforcement agencies.” “What polls is this based on? Whom?" - the prime minister just boiled, apparently until now sincerely believing that the current economic authorities are showing the younger generation the advantages of an exclusively market, free economy, and not something painfully familiar from the Soviet diapers. “According to OPORA surveys,” Mr. Gref calmly noted and continued: “The statistics are sad, in two years the number of such schoolchildren has increased.”
“Which schoolchildren did you conduct a survey among—younger or older?” - with hope worthy of perseverance, the prime minister asked the head of OPORA Sergei Borisov. “Among the elders,” he answered. - They know the sad experiences of parents. And they talk openly about all the problems.” In this sense, officials and security forces are better, as it turns out according to schoolchildren, especially high school students.
“What department officials do they want to become?” - asked another question by the prime minister, who has enormous experience in the ability not to succumb to provocations. “Tax,” answered Mr. Borisov.
Against the background of the choice of young people in favor of the dictatorship of the state, the problems of small business even ceased to be heard. And then one of the council members, a representative of the construction business, Andrei Gusarov, who until yesterday was not very active, added some “boiling water.” He said that, according to surveys, women no longer want to go into business and forbid their children. Moreover, they do not even want to marry ordinary businessmen - they are afraid. “Only for the oligarchs,” the prime minister joked. The entrepreneurs remained silent in a strained manner, apparently remembering Krasnokamensk.
The head of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs, Alexander Shokhin, tried to bring everyone back to reality. Despite the fact that he represented an oligarchic business, the interest in free connection to networks turned out to be universal. Mr. Shokhin said that a three-year transition period is sufficient for such a step.
The Prime Minister, having heard the request, replied: “We do not yet have such opportunities for all the hay to be harvested by large, oligarchic businesses. And I don’t even know what minimum bribes officials need to pay.” Here Mr. Borisov stood up for his comrades from big business: “Connection to networks is approximately 20% of the cost of a loaf of bread.” “We will go decisively, German Oskarovich,” said the prime minister. “We make and prepare decisions using cash registers and networks.” And everyone celebrated the victory, although the main word “cancellation” was never spoken.