The National Conference on Soviet Jewry said today it anticipates that the Soviet government’s new 30 percent tax on all money sent from abroad to Soviet citizens will impose a hardship on Jewish activists in the USSR, but added it did not know yet how hard the hardship will be.
A NCSJ spokesman said it was not yet known whether the tax, which was announced yesterday and will go into effect next Jan. 1, will replace the present 30 percent bank handling charges on all funds from overseas sent to Soviet citizens or whether it will be in addition to the bank charge, Another unknown, according to the spokesman, is whether the tax will be placed on ruble certificates which are bought abroad and which Soviet citizens can redeem for goods in Soviet stores. These certificates can buy three times the amount that money can, according to the spokesman.
The new tax which was first reported last May is apparently aimed at Jewish activists and others who have been deprived of jobs because of applying for exit visas and therefore have no income except the money sent from abroad.
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