EKIP– Expert Club for Economics and Politics A Different Opinion
The months of March and April are a time of frequent encounters with the state administration, especially for those of us who have businesses, have founded non-governmental organizations, work on civil contracts or even just have to fill out a tax return. Regardless of which tax/fee/document collecting institution we encounter, the common denominator is that we will have to walk, stand in line and deal with an official who, like us, has more important things to do than explain which form we downloaded from the internet by mistake.
Paper trail
The truth is that for a huge part of the documents submitted, carrying paper forms is absolutely unnecessary. You cannot file Declaration 7 with the National Revenue Agency online, you cannot see how much your car tax is or pay it by bank transfer (going to your municipality is one day minus from the calendar), even for hospital visits your visit is guaranteed. While the previously mentioned can lead to unpleasant stories such as suspension of health insurance rights, even though you have paid, for example, there is bureaucratic paperwork that affects entire organizations and business sectors.
A classic example is the lack of an accessible online registry for NGO management, which requires frequent trips to court to avoid finding yourself in a situation where the bank simply cannot allow access to your account – quite unpleasant if salaries need to be paid. It is even worse when we talk, for example, about the cumbersome access to personal data in the information system of the National Social Security Institute. For it, not only does the business pay a good rate, but the consent of the person (whose data will be provided) is defined only as a “declaration of will signed by hand on paper”. As if this is the only way to certify a declaration of will.
At the same time, a huge part of business and increasingly of trade is being transferred online. Not only do we watch movies and communicate via the Internet, but also a considerable part of buying and selling is increasingly happening in the “virtual world”. Unfortunately, however, many of these new services are hampered by bureaucratic indiscretions. You can try to get modern bank or quick loans online, but clicking forward you will reach the moment when the state makes you walk around with a bunch of folders and papers to certify this or that. There is no need for such a thing, today encrypted and protected connections are much safer than couriers and postal items.
Taxes, but in Estonia
And while the administration sits in the Middle Ages, politicians compete in the pre-election period to talk about easing regimes and moving to e-government. There is no left or right party program – everyone is enthusiastic about showing themselves as the biggest supporters of digitalization. The hype lasts somewhere until after the elections, when much more pressing issues such as nationalizing the pension system and regulating Internet trolls seize the attention of lawmakers.
And for comparison, a little further north, in a former socialist (even post-Soviet) country, things look quite different. We are talking about Estonia with its electronic ID card and e-residency program (which does not grant citizenship, but allows for digital signing of documents). Through their electronic cards, Estonians can not only use their personal documents for travel, but as a health card, to access a bank account online, instead of a public transport ticket in Tallinn, for digital signature, for electronic voting, for access to all government databases and filing taxes.
And while our great "reformers" in parliament and government talk more than they do anything, let it not turn out that it is easier to pay our taxes in Estonia than in the National Revenue Agency of Mladost.
