Finance Minister Anton Siluanov called the contribution of business to the budget fair. “Why is it not fair if we see that profits have grown by 2-3 times compared to the usual normal levels?” declared he is on the air of the TV channel “Russia 1”.
According to the minister, if we compare the volume of growth in the profits received by the business and how much the Ministry of Finance expects to collect from it, “completely miserable amounts” are obtained. In February, Siluanov saidthat the Ministry of Finance plans to replenish the budget by 300 billion rubles through additional fees from large companies.
The fact that the Russian authorities are discussing with the largest companies a one-time contribution to the budget, became known at the beginning of February. Ministry of Finance pointed outthat all Russian companies with a profit of more than 1 billion rubles for 2021-2022 will be required to pay a contribution, with the exception of enterprises in the oil and gas and coal sectors, as well as small and medium-sized businesses, but there are no exceptions for banks. According to Siluanov, the mandatory fee will affect only 0.1% of all companies. The windfall tax rate may be 5% of the excess of profit for 2021-2022 over the figure for 2018-2019, said Siluanov. The final rate will be determined after income tax returns for 2022 are generated by March 25.
Head of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs Alexander Shokhin March 16 declaredthat the business is ready to pay a one-time fee to the budget ahead of schedule if it legally enters into force only from 2024, but would like to count on a discount in this case. Siluanov, in turn offered business not to “spare money”, but “to gladly make this decision and move forward.”
Billionaire Vladimir Potanin on the air of Rossiya 1 on March 19 declared: “It is better that there are no deviations from the usual tax regime, but if there is a need for this, then the business treats this with understanding, and the only thing that needs to be done is to do it systematically.”
