Russia Ponders Higher ‘Divorce Tax’ To Discourage Ill-Planned Marriages
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Russia’s Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev has proposed raising the state duty on divorce by nearly 7500 percent, in order to discourage couples from jumping into marriage before careful consideration, according to Russian state media on Tuesday.
Russia’s Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev has proposed raising the state duty on divorce by nearly 7500 percent, in order to discourage couples from jumping into marriage before careful consideration, according to Russian state media on Tuesday.
Ria Novosti published remarks made by Medvedev during a meeting with top senators, where the prime minister suggested increasing the ‘divorce tax’ from the current charge of 400 rubles ($12.50) to 30,000 rubles ($940).
[quote]”The motives (for my suggestion) are understandable,” said Medvedev, as cited by AFP. “switch on your brain when you’re getting married, otherwise there’s going to be material penalties.”[/quote]Russia has a high rate of divorce. According to a global UN survey, Russia has the 15th highest female divorce rate and the 28th highest for men. There were 642,000 divorces in Russia in 2012, according to the Federal Statistics Service, versus 1.2 million marriages registered.
The Wall Street Journal estimated that the proposed tax increase could raise 19 billion rubles ($595 million) in additional revenue for the federal budget each year. That would cover about 4 percent of the country’s budget deficit or the equivalent of the government’s spending on environmental protection.
Medvedev said that the government would have to consider all the pros and cons to the idea, but did not set a date for the idea to be discussed.
Last Thursday, Russian President Vladimir Putin had lambasted Western countries for drifting away from Christian traditionalism, describing it as the centre for Russia’s national identity.
“Without the values at the core of Christianity and other world religions, without moral norms that have been shaped over millennia, people will inevitably lose their human dignity,” Putin said, during the Valdai International Discussion Club, as cited by Russia Today.
Ironically, Russia’s top leader, President Vladimir Putin announced “the end” of his marriage to his wife of thirty years, Lyudmila, in June this year. It is not clear whether he has formally divorced his wife, but he is rumoured to be presently dating a former Olympic gymnast.
The morality debate in Russia has also gathered steam in recent months. Recently, a law was introduced banning gay “propaganda,” while lawmakers have also proposed making abortions more difficult.
If the hike in the ‘divorce tax’ is introduced, the cost would be higher than the average monthly salary in Russia (around 27,000 rubles).
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AFP noted that Russia’s legacy of high divorce rates had been inherited from the former Soviet Union, who was one of the first countries in the world to allow “no-fault” divorce, requiring no justification for splitting, as the Communist state sought to destroy what it considered the bourgeois construct of the family.
Though the policy was eventually reversed, divorce procedures remain relatively straightforward in Russia.
