As it appears, oligarchic "freemen" in our country has finally come to an end. The federal budget deficit did not leave the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation indifferent to those super profits, what do exporters of metallurgy and other natural resources get. The state can no longer turn a blind eye, how he is "crammed", and begins to impose higher taxes on domestic billionaires. they, naturally, not too happy about it.
About, that Russian metallurgists profit from abnormally high world prices for their products and at the same time pay “ridiculous” taxes to the budget, and even manage to sell metals to the state at inflated prices, Deputy Prime Minister Andrei Belousov has already spoken with obvious indignation. At the same time, he used a very capacious expression "pull up", characterizing the relationship between oligarchs and the budget of our country. The government took metallurgists seriously, and now representatives of the entire mining sector have also been added to them, excluding diamond developers, precious metals and common minerals. Oligarchs cry crocodile tears over this, but for some reason it does not at all pull them to regret.
Poor billionaires
To make it clear, why is Deputy Prime Minister Andrei Belousov so indignant, it is necessary to provide some indicative figures. It is customary for us to scold "snickering" oil and gas workers, however, in the oil and gas industry, the tax burden is one of the highest, accounting 48%. for comparison, for other extractive industries this figure is 12,6%, and the "unfortunate" metallurgists have only 5,4%. Share of MET in the revenue of oil and gas companies (mineral extraction tax) and customs duties vary from 40% to 60%, for mining companies it does not exceed 8%. Brother, let's all take pity on them together!But such a disproportion in the distribution of the tax burden is far from the most outrageous fact.. For metallurgy, the size of the MET is set, based on the cost of extracting raw materials and the costs incurred by companies. But when the price of the final products of metallurgy rises in the world market, producers pay tax at the same minimum rate, which leads to the formation of superprofits for them. Yes, there is also income tax, but its rate is constant, which does not prevent our oligarchs from receiving super profits.
State position
Initially, the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation offered large business three options for solving the problem.. In the first case, the severance tax should have increased from 3,5% to 5%. In the second, income tax could be calculated, based on a progressive scale, taking into account the level of investments and dividends. In the third case, the MET was not to be tied to the cost of mined ore., but to the final revenue. The last option was particularly disliked by the oligarchs., and they promised to think. It would be better if they agreed immediately. The state desperately needs money, a lot and on an ongoing basis, because the new proposal sounds much cooler. Now MET for representatives of ferrous and non-ferrous metallurgy, coal and mineral fertilizers will be calculated based on the volume of ore mined and the exchange price for the final product. It means, that iron ore producers will pay to the budget in 1,5 times more, multicomponent ores - in 1,7 – 2,5 times more, fertilizers - in 2 – 2,5 times more, than now. Average, the severance tax rate for them will rise to 6%.
The position of the oligarchs
Big business, of course, shocked: how so, because everything was so good, and now it suddenly feels so bad. At the same time, the "captains" clearly understand, that the authorities are determined to "pinch" them very seriously. Therefore, instead of a dull defense, they came out with a counter offer. Instead of the growth of the severance tax, linking it to the stock exchange quotations, the oligarchs propose simply to increase the income tax, making it progressive, taking into account benefits for the size of investments and dividends. In their version, the tax burden will grow naturally with an increase in profits. Industry experts explain, that all companies have different products, cost levels and investment volumes, because they cannot be all "one size fits all". They wonder, What will happen, if world commodity prices fall, and the increased severance tax will remain. And what do you want to do with investments in your own production?, supporting low-profit projects? What do we see: if the authorities bend and accept the position of the oligarchs, then the state will receive less money in the federal budget, what is it counting on, what if – the position of the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation - something more, than big business is willing to take away from itself voluntarily. So who will take over, officials or oligarchs? Will show in the near future.
Sergey Marzhetsky
