Putin chides business on tax evasion

MOSCOW, Nov. 16 (UPI) -- Russian President Vladimir Putin issued a sharp rebuke to the Russian business sector Tuesday for its record in paying corporate taxes, Itar-Tass reported.

"Business should get accustomed to paying taxes rather than looking for ways of evading them," Putin told the Duma, parliament's lower house. "Taxes are paid to the treasury in the interests of society, including the interests of business itself."

He told the congress in Moscow that in return, the state will safeguard the interest of honest businesses, and he denied the popular notion entrepreneurial ventures come under extra state scrutiny and are deemed a threat to state interests.