Putin proposed to introduce a tax for the riches
President Vladimir Putin proposed abandoning since January 2021 the flat personal income tax scale and raising it from 13% to 15% for those whose incomes exceed 5 million rubles a year. He said this in a televised address to the Russians.
He suggested spending the funds collected from this tax solely for the treatment of children with severe rare diseases and for high-tech surgery.
At the same time, all existing assistance programs for such children should be preserved, the Russian President emphasized. 60 billion rubles a year, which the state can collect by raising the tax rate for the riches, will be “plus” to the funds that are already allocated for high-tech aid.
He specified the transparency of decision-making as the key principle for the distribution of this money. Putin suggested that such decisions should be made by only medical, public and charity figures who have earned an impeccable reputation and unquestioned prestige over many years of work.
Putin said that it might seem unfair that citizens with different income levels pay the same tax - 13% of income. He noted that a flat taxation scale allowed enhancing a tax collection rate. The state was able to spend increasing charges for social needs. Now that the tax collection system has been developed, he said, there is a possibility to distribute the tax burden more differentially.
On June 17, Forbes learned from sources that the Russian Government had returned to discussing the possibility of introducing a progressive personal income tax scale. According to the magazine, among other issues discussed was raising the personal income tax rate from 13% to 15% for wealthy citizens whose annual income exceeds 2-3 million rubles.
On June 18, journalists found that the introduction of a progressive scale and increasing personal income tax for the riches are supported with reservations by all fractions of the State Duma and the Labor Confederation of Russia.
The introduction of a progressive personal income tax scale is possible provided that insurance payments of the Unified Social Tax (UST) are reduced to 15%, business ombudsman Boris Titov expressed his position.
Presidential Spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed that the issue of raising personal income tax rates for wealthy Russian citizens is discussed at the expert level, including the Government and the Kremlin. According to him, the final decisions have not yet been taken.
Before his appointment as the prime minister, Mikhail Mishustin, who had previously headed the tax service, declared he did not support abandoning the flat personal income tax scale.
ORIENT news Source: https://www.interfax.ru
