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CNN Today

Tax Collecting in Russia Not for the Faint-Hearted

Aired January 4, 2001 - 4:54 p.m. ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

JOIE CHEN, CNN ANCHOR: Collecting taxes, at least in Russia, can actually be a dangerous job, and now a special school has been set up where future tax collectors are learning how to deal with tax evaders.

We got the story from CNN's Ryan Chilcote (ph) in Moscow.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RYAN CHILCOTE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Collecting taxes in Russia is not a job for you if you have a weak stomach. At the nation's first tax police academy, kids begin training at age 10.

COL. VALERY KRUG, TAX POLICE SCHOOL (through translator): Our goal is to teach them discipline from the fifth grade on, while they're still young. You can't be a good tax policeman without discipline.

CHILCOTE: Discipline here begins with rise and shine at 7:00, a tidiness test, a morning workout and the hygiene check, all before today's review of socioeconomic relations in ancient Babylon. Nastya's mom and dad, both active in the tax police, say she was never much for dolls.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): She's been dreaming about war since she was little. Our family's been in the service for generations. Some drove tanks; others were in the artillery, so it's natural that we're in the tax police.

CHILCOTE: The tax police are one branch of the military with a tall order ahead of them. The International Monetary Fund has called Russian tax collection inadequate, and tax evasion is rampant.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think we can do better, because they were first and they don't know what they must do really, and we, you know, we will do better.

CHILCOTE: Improving is a central theme in Svetlana Vasilyevna's (ph) class. The songs of Cossack warriors centuries ago strengthen the battle spirit. Sasha says tax evaders won't get past him.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's not going to happen, because I will stop it. I will do my best. I will do the most and bigger than I can, and I will stop them anyway, even if I have to kill them. CHILCOTE: Even if they don't go on to join the force, the teachers say they're more likely to pay their taxes, and that's already progress.

Ryan Chilcote, CNN, Moscow.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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