Atameken proposes plans to improve Kazakhstan business climate
The congress gathered members of the NECK Bureau, the Board, and the Chamber- representatives of industry and regional business associations, major companies and holdings, the Kazakh MFA reports.
At the meeting, Atameken, the country's largest association of entrepreneurs, set seven key business priorities aimed at improving business environment in Kazakhstan. These include the customs and tax legislation improvement within the Single Economic Space, reduction of administrative barriers, development of rural entrepreneurship and lending support for peasant and private farms, and promotion of vocational and technical education. The Chamber will also continue implementation of governmental programmes and protect the rights of entrepreneurs.
Speaking at the session, Rakhim Oshakbayev, NECK's First Deputy Chairman, spoke in detail on tax law issues, particularly setting forth proposals of a series of amendments to the tax legislation and the Administrative Violations Code.
"It is vital to fundamentally simplify the tax administration, introduce the presumption of innocence of a taxpayer, to review the number of unscheduled inspections, the inspection period, and penalties for tax offenses," Oshakbayev said.
According to Kazakhstan's businessmen, these steps will significantly improve the business climate in the country. The Atameken Union insists on establishing specialised Tax Courts to ensure an expert consideration of tax disputes.
Experts believe Kazakhstan needs to develop special tax regimes for small businesses. By working to improve the customs legislation, Atameken will keep on working to introduce the "one stop shop" principle through which all export-import operations will be carried out and transparency of customs procedures will be guaranteed.
"Seizure of accounts for minor reasons are more frequent now, penalty charging that far exceeds the amount of tax deficiencies, red tape, waiting time in queues, and formalistic nature in administering the Tax Code demonstrate the imperfection of the tax administration and greatly complicate the ease of doing business. Therefore, Atameken will continue to work with the government in order to significantly simplify tax administration," the vice chairman noted.
The new direction in the work of Atameken will be the development of rural entrepreneurship and improving the quality of agricultural products. To this end, in 2012, the Economic Chamber intends to actively participate in the elaboration of the "Agri-Business Development Programme for 2013-2020".
"For its part, the Atameken Union will pool efforts and combine opinions of Chamber members, both regional and sectorial associations, in considering the concept of this programme and develop specific proposals," Oshakbayev stressed.
In 2012, the Atameken Union intends to extend its accreditation to issue expert opinions for 25 public bodies (ministries, agencies, Prosecutor's office, the National Security Committee, the Agency for Economic and Corruption-Related Crimes).
As Oshakbaev posited, in 2012, Atameken expects to receive approximately 1,500 draft laws and regulations for examination.
"In order to improve the effectiveness of expert work and make it more transparent, we propose systematic publishing of incoming acts, our expert advice, and the results of participation in working groups on our website," Oshakbayev concluded.