| Moscow imposed a double tax on “one-armed bandits” Slot machines, which have filled all public places in the capital, have long irritated many Muscovites. It was assumed that the problem of gambling would be triumphantly resolved by the United Russia faction on the eve of the December elections to the Moscow City Duma. However, the party in power, accustomed to acting exclusively by administrative methods, did not seem to cope with the task. At least Yuri Luzhkov had to take the situation into his own hands and demonstrate to legislators market-based ways to solve the problem.
At yesterday's meeting of the Moscow City Duma, legislators voted for the bill introduced by the mayor and increased the tax rate on the gambling business to the maximum established by federal legislation. From January 1, 2006, the tax on gambling tables, betting offices and bookmakers will increase by 25% and reach 125 thousand rubles. per month. As for the “one-armed bandits,” businessmen will have to pay 7,500 rubles monthly for each slot machine. -- twice as much as before.
Presenting the bill, Deputy Head of the Economic Policy Department of the City Hall Valery Zharov said that more than 60 thousand slot machines, 1,079 gambling tables, 31 betting offices and 10 bookmakers are registered in Moscow. Raising rates, he said, could increase tax revenues to the budget from the current 4 to 7 billion rubles. However, Mr. Zharov urged legislators not to rush to include this figure in the budget revenues, since raising taxes has a completely different goal - to reduce the number of gambling establishments in the capital. “In addition, today it is difficult to calculate the consequences of the adoption of the law on the location of gambling business facilities,” said Mr. Zharov, referring to the bill introduced by United Russia in June, according to which prefectural officials will have the right to independently determine the number and location of gambling establishments within their jurisdiction. territories.
Lawmakers tried to allay the speaker's concerns. Deputy Alexander Krutov emphasized that the proposed level of tax rates is feasible for the gambling business and will not lead to a sharp reduction in the tax base. This, in particular, is evidenced by the experience of the Moscow region and St. Petersburg, where maximum tax rates have been in effect for a long time. However, Mr. Krutov recalled, the State Duma is currently discussing the issue of doubling the maximum tax rates, and Moscow will be able to take advantage of this provision as soon as it becomes law.
As a result, the deputies supported the tax increase, but decided to continue the attack on the gambling business on all fronts. In particular, deputy Mikhail Moskvin-Tarkhanov proposed linking the rent rate set by the city with the type of activity of the tenant. “If this is a bakery, then there should be one rental, but if at least one slot machine appears there, then the rental price immediately increases tenfold,” the legislator explained his idea.
The Legislative Assembly of the Primorsky Territory yesterday refused to raise taxes on the gambling business, reports the news agency Data.RU. The regional executive authority insisted on a fivefold increase in the current tax rate per gambling table. Now it is 25 thousand rubles.
The first vice-governor of the region, Alexander Kostenko, stating that tax rates on the gambling business are five times lower than the federal ones, explained: “When we accepted the reduced rate, we hoped that there would be an increase in tax payments, but this did not happen.” He proposed setting taxes on gambling tables at federal rates, since “an objective rate in this type of business is difficult to calculate.” The deputies, however, considered that such a sharp increase in tax could lead to the gambling business completely going into the shadows and tax revenues to the budget, on the contrary, would decrease. Alexander GUDKOV |
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