Translated material
Walkers at Shokhin's
Major officials visited big business
Members of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs (RSPP) have spent the last year trying to prove their loyalty to the authorities. Yesterday showed that this policy has borne fruit. At the first meeting of the RUIE board of directors this year, a troop of federal officials landed. Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Zhukov, head of the Federal Antimonopoly Service Igor Artemyev, two deputy ministers of economic development Kirill Androsov and finance Sergei Shatalov, as well as head of the Federal Real Estate Cadastre Agency Mikhail Mishustin came to visit the businessmen. “We can and must negotiate, taking into account mutual interests. This dialogue will help accelerate economic growth,” Mr. Zhukov explained to the businessmen.Igor Artemyev presented the draft law on competition. Mr. Zhukov called the preparation of this law “a model of interaction between business and government.” In addition, Mr. Zhukov promised a tax amnesty for business, and Mr. Shatalov promised the introduction of a differentiated tax rate on mineral extraction and tax holidays for developers of new deposits.
However, one of the key issues for business - the purchase of land for industrial enterprises - still has no solution. And emotional speeches from both sides failed to bring their positions closer together. The problem is due to the fact that at the time of privatization, land ownership rights did not yet exist and the factories owned by them are located on land that does not belong to businessmen. The president, the businessmen again reminded, twice promised to resolve this issue with minimal costs for business.
The government's position is that land should be transferred into ownership for 5% of the cadastral value in all regions with the exception of Moscow and St. Petersburg, where the rate is set at 20%. For those who do not want to buy, rent is offered for 3% of the cadastral value. According to the government, this will not be at all burdensome for business. True, the calculations, as it turned out, are different for everyone. According to Mr. Androsov, if at current rates the purchase of land throughout the country will cost 22.8 billion dollars, then under the new rules this amount will be only 8.5 billion, of which 5.2 billion will be in Moscow and St. Petersburg. According to Mr. Mishustin’s estimates, the ransom will cost much less - only 6.4 billion. “Moreover, not everyone will set the maximum rate,” officials assured.
However, business is not at all happy with this. Their proposals boil down to purchase for 2% of the cadastral value, in extreme cases for 2.5%, and a rent equal to the land tax rate. In addition, business does not believe at all in the nobility of regional authorities. “It is necessary to establish a rule that the cadastral valuation cannot be higher than the average for the region, since in half the cases it turns out that this particular land is the most expensive,” explained the head of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs, Alexander Shokhin. Business also insists on the right to invite independent appraisers and challenge the valuation cost in court. The issue was once again postponed.
In addition, three members of the RSPP Bureau were replaced at the board meeting. As you know, Mikhail Khodorkovsky sent one of the first letters from the colony specifically to the RSPP, asking to be relieved of his position as a member of the bureau. St. Petersburg businessman Vladimir Kogan became a government official (since December last year he has held the position of deputy head of the Federal Agency for Road Construction and Housing and Communal Services - Ed. ) and formally ceased to be an entrepreneur. In addition, one of its oldest members, the vice-president of the union, Viktor Dombrovsky, left the bureau. He was a member of the governing bodies of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs even before the emergence of big business in it and was considered the right hand of former President Arkady Volsky. According to Mr. Shokhin, Mr. Dombrovsky voluntarily decided to leave the bureau, retaining his position as vice president. However, it is more likely that he had to leave this post.
Despite the large number of industry and regional organizations included in the RSPP, two out of three new members of the bureau represent not just large, but very large businesses. The president of the oil company LUKOIL, Vagit Alekperov (according to Mr. Shokhin, all members of the bureau voted for him) and the general director of Gazprominvestholding, Alisher Usmanov, were selected by rating vote from eleven people. The third vacancy was filled by the chairman of the board of directors of Kuzbassrazrezugol, Andrey Bokarev, who is not very well known in the capital. However, his company, as Mr. Shokhin explained, is part of the UMMC holding. Therefore, he can also safely be considered a representative of big business. Despite the fact that Alexander Shokhin repeatedly promised to fight against “truant workers,” of the three new members, only Mr. Usmanov appeared on the board.
A good half of the list of applicants for places in the bureau consisted of representatives of state-owned companies - from the head of Sberbank Andrei Kazmin to the president of Russian Railways OJSC Vladimir Yakunin. But, as Mr. Shokhin explained, they could not choose the most worthy one, and decided that two representatives of state-owned companies - Alexei Miller and Anatoly Chubais - were enough in the bureau.