Russia offers businesses tax breaks for building defenses against Ukrainian drones. The catch: the state gets whatever they build for free.

Filed 1h ago · Via Meduza · The Buffoon Desk

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Hidden Agenda

Kevin MacLeod · incompetech.com · CC BY 4.0

Photo: Geoffroy Van der Hasselt, Geoffroy van der Hasselt · CC BY 4.0 · via Wikimedia Commons

A bill submitted to Russia's State Duma would let business owners deduct the cost of building anti-drone protective structures from their taxable profits, provided they then transfer those structures free of charge to the Defense Ministry, National Guard, Emergencies Ministry, or security services. Meal costs for people sheltering inside such structures could also be deducted from VAT.

The proposal follows a presidential decree in late August authorizing the state to place critical infrastructure under temporary administration if owners fail to protect it from threats including Ukrainian drone strikes, with Rosimushchestvo or another government-designated party stepping in to run it.

The full dispatch is available from the source below.

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So you build the shed with your own money, hand over the keys, and the state lets you knock a little off your tax bill for the privilege. That's the kind of deal a brother-in-law offers right before he borrows your truck for good. And if you'd rather not build anything, the August decree says they'll just come run the place for you, which tells you how voluntary the whole arrangement really is.

Source: Read the original at Meduza → Scored: Hidden Agenda · Kevin MacLeod · CC BY 4.0

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