But I also join with the American Jewish community in its concern for Soviet Jews who are virtual prisoners in a hostile homeland. I cannot justify extending a mostfavorednation treatment to the U.S.S.R. until that country extends favorable treatment to its own Jewish citizens. We believe that the Russian emigration tax is applied only against Jews and ranges from $5.000 to $30.000 per individual. The tax is based on the level of education. with the Russian Government claiming it loses important financial investments when welleducated Jews leave the country. This policy has a number of unacceptable implications and results. It suggests that Jews in the free world should ransom relatives and friends now hostage in Russia. resulting in a huge flow of Western money into the U.S.S.R. Why should the United States extend its top trade status to a nation using that kind of economic blackmail? The policy also forces Jewish youth in Russia into choosing between relative ignorance and the higher education which results in the excessive emigration tax. And the potential is there for the Soviet Union to levy the tax against any critic within its society. That would be in keeping with a pattern of intellectual repression inside the U.S.S.R.
Keywords matched
emigration