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Taxes Increase, Allowances Are Being Abolished, Suicide Becomes More Frequent

January 22, 2007

gadasaxadi.gifAt the beginning of 2007, the Tbilisi Municipality had a bad surprise for the people. They have increased the taxes, abolished current allowances, reduced jobs and did its best to force the people out in the street to start begging.

More precisely, the former fee for garbage was 0, 40 GEL and since 2007 a person would pay an increased 1, 20 GEL. Water bills have also increased from 1, 20 GEL to 2, 40 GEL. Electricity fees were increased in 2006. In several months, fees will be increased on gas, as well.

According to the experts and governmental representatives, the increase will not be too great. Nika Gilauri, the Minister of Fuel-Energy, said that the tax will increase; however, it will not be too serious. The State Minister, Kakha Bendukidze said that the reason for the increased tax is the higher price on the gas we get from abroad.

Simultaneously, the people who did not pay for their traveling around the city have had their allowances abolished. Those who had 50% allowances for their communal bills will no longer have any. Mothers with many children have been deprived from the 5 lari which they used to get for each child.

In addition to that, the prices on food and essential items have considerably increased. According to the Statistics State Department, the prices have increased by 0, 14 % in comparison to the previous week.  More exactly, the price on food have increased by 0, 10 % and by 0, 35 % on other goods.

Mamuka Katsarava, the head of the Social Aid and Cultural City Service Department, said that the decision on abolishing the allowances and aids is legal. “Before making such decision we carried out a survey which showed that some families with many children did not need allowances. Besides that, the fifty lari a baby received at birth is also abolished. A new packet of social aids will be created.  It will be granted to the poorest families. The problem was that most of families did not get those fifty lari and it used to disappear.”

The population who had former allowances said that they are doomed to being beggars, thieves and migrants. “All these make me feel mistrust, nihilism and indifference. I am ashamed that families with many children were granted with five lari only and now they have abolished it too. War veterans and pensioners of the law enforcement bodies could travel for free and now they cannot. I wonder did they travel so much that the budget could not find enough funds to assist them. They are so old that cannot move a lot. What can we do? Nothing. We might migrate abroad to survive but we also need some money and we should be younger too. The most simple way out is begging. I cannot steal and those who can, they are supposed to commit that crime to save their children. They must think over why do women throw their babies in the garbage? Maybe hard social situations are the reason for that?” said a mother with four children.

Psychologist, Nana Chachua confirmed the fact that hard social situations cause depression in people. “If you tell me that I have neither boat, nor ship and that I cannot swim, don’t you think I get depressed? Such people will be in very bad situation and it will result in grave criminal situations, nihilism and the most terrible thing is the frequency of suicide.”

If we rely on the demographical data, the Georgian population will decrease by half by 2050. The statistics really proved it. For example, in 1989-1990 nearly 90 000 children were born in Georgia. However, the number was continuously reducing since then. In 2003 only 46 194 children were born in the country.

Economical expert Gia Khukhashvili sees the only way out, that is the government should give up the involvement in business. “Hence the basic market element of the economy-energy- is getting more expensive, the inflation will also increase. Thus, communal taxes and food products get more and more expensive. Finally, it causes an increase in the minimum cost of living conditions and furthermore, more people will be found below the poverty level.  The outcome is obvious-the social tension will increase and nobody can tell when it will reach the climax. However, the current situation leads us to it. The only way out is to create a healthy investing environment and real competition. The government should give up its involvement in the business. An institution for free entrepreneurs should be established. Risk-factors must be reduced and some guarantees should be created for investment. In this case the country will develop itself.”

Eka Gulua

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