Putin calls for end to tax terror

This story has no reference to liberty anywhere, but it's an interesting example of good politics. On the day you give businesspeople (including foreign investors) what they want (in dramatic terms -describing the tactics of tax inspectors as "terror"), you appease the reactionary elements in your society (in Russia the die-hard communists) by "regretting" the end of the Soviet Union.

Of course, you also - if you are President Putin - manage to squeeze in an implied threat to the "oligarchs" that they won't benefit from less "tax terror" unless they bring their money back home. Anyone want to put together a consortium to buy Chelsea FC?

BBC NEWS | Business | Putin calls for end to tax terror