Russia’s Finance Ministry plans to collect additional 2.5 trillion rubles in 2017-2019 to finance budget deficit.
The ministry wants to raise taxes, mobilize revenues and deplete sovereign funds in 2017-2019, some of the officials said.
The proposals were discussed at a meeting held by the First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov on Monday, but no decision was made, a representative of the ministry said. One of the officials added that the proposals were just ideas for discussion.
All key taxes, including the corporate profit tax, the corporate property tax, the value added tax (VAT) and the personal income tax, as well as contributions to pension, social and compulsory medical insurance funds are offered to be increased by 1%, which will raise budget revenues by 170-134 billion rubles.
Another way to increase the personal income tax envisages raising the rate to 15-16% and introducing a non-taxable minimum.
Raising the VAT by 1% will bring additional 220 billion rubles to the budget, according to the ministry.
As for the so-called tax maneuver in the oil industry – a planned rise of the mineral extraction tax (MET) on oil and a cut of the oil export duty to 30% from the current 42% – the ministry plans to cut the export duty to zero from 2018 and to increase the MET more significantly.
The Finance Ministry also suggested introducing an excise duty of 5 rubles per liter for sweetened beverages. (Prime/Business World Magazine)
