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"I wouldn’t want to live in a country where nearly all your taxes get spent on building a palace and enforcing more police and military." I wouldn't want to ha
by gdy 6y ago
"I wouldn’t want to live in a country where nearly all your taxes get spent on building a palace and enforcing more police and military."
I wouldn't want to have UKOS returned to the owners who got it dirt-cheap during 'privatization' in 90s and taxes on the extraction of natural resources reduced to the pre-Putin level. This one thing -- raising taxes on the wealth generated from selling natural resources -- pays a hundred times for Putin's palace.
As for our military, I'd rather have it strong, why wouldn't you?
- hvis 6y agoThat extracted wealth should flow back into the country and translate into well-being of your citizens. Not just continue lining the pockets of the president's closest friends. I'd rather have our military strong on the borders of our country and outside of it. Instead of having that military power used to strong-arm Russian citizens (and yes, the opposition is among them).
- gdy 6y agoIt does flow back. About half of the federal budget is formed from the taxes on natural resources. I think last time our military was used against Russian citizens was during Chechen wars. Another time was in 1993 when Eltsin used it to shoot at the Parliament building.