Translated material
Synonym for "pessimism"
Tax amnesty causes Russian media more concern than hope
In June, the State Duma is due to consider the draft law “On a simplified procedure for declaring income by individuals,” which has become known under the simpler slogan “tax amnesty.” Over the year that has passed since the start of work on the draft law on the personal instructions of the President of Russia, it turned out that citizens’ interest in the topic is so painful that any statement by even non-high-ranking officials about the document being prepared causes a lot of rumors, speculation and comments.If we measure the interest of the public, at least in Moscow, through the reflection of the topic of amnesty in the most read socio-political and business media, then, as a study prepared by the analytical center Public.Ru specifically for Vremya Novostey shows, every statement by the authorities causes three -fivefold surge in discussion of this topic. And the more incomprehensible these statements were, the more panicky the tone of the discussion became.
Exactly a year ago, Russians learned that a tax amnesty was being prepared in the country. President Vladimir Putin promised this in his address to the Federal Assembly last year. Strictly speaking, such an amnesty was again timidly discussed (the first discussions on this topic took place during the time of Boris Yeltsin) a month before the head of state read out his message. In March 2005, newspapers wrote that the business community was going to raise the question of the feasibility of a tax amnesty with the president, and called this step “the pinnacle of courage.”
Media interest in the topic of amnesty then remained at the level of 18-20 publications per month, but there was no talk about a specific amnesty scenario, they only discussed how ready the authorities were in principle to discuss such a step. The publications also recalled the words of the Minister of Economic Development and Trade German Gref that no tax amnesty is expected.
It is noteworthy that the topic of tax amnesty raised in the message initially caused only a slight surge of interest in the issue. The point was that the head of state did not use the word “amnesty”; only synonymous words were used. But a sharp, almost five-fold increase in media interest in the topic of amnesty (almost a hundred publications per month) was discovered in August last year. It was caused by a statement by Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin, who said that the Ministry of Finance had developed a draft law allowing citizens to legalize their “gray” income. “This is something like an amnesty for the income of individuals,” said the head of the Ministry of Finance. After the August government meeting, at which the concept of a tax amnesty for individuals prepared by the Ministry of Finance was approved, it became clear that the concept did not live up to the expectations of Russians. The idea itself did not raise any objections, but the proposed mechanism for its implementation, which did not provide those “amnestied” with guarantees of release from criminal prosecution, cast doubt on the wisdom of the undertaking.
The September explanation of the Minister of Finance that the amnesty could be extended not only to capital, but also to property, caused surprise in the press: it was not clear how to implement the property amnesty. The reaction in the media was much more violent in October, when the Ministry of Finance again asked the government for a delay to finalize the tax amnesty bill. Impatience began to build. Then there were reports that the tax amnesty planned for January 1 would be postponed for three months and announced on April 1, 2006. And also that the Ministry of Finance refused to reduce the tax rate for amnestied capital to 7-9%. This news also turned out to be quite widely discussed. The media devoted more than 50 publications in November to analyzing these intentions of the authorities.
The next boom in discussion of the topic in the press was noted in February 2006, when the Ministry of Finance introduced to the government a bill “On simplified declaration of income of individuals.” One of the main disappointments of the business community is that simplified income declaration will not apply to legal entities. But in the middle of the month it became known that the bill was again sent for revision.
It is curious that the topic of amnesty was more actively discussed at the stage of revisions and approvals than when it became known that the draft law had been submitted to the Duma. This moment, when it became clear that the amnesty would apply to income legalized at a rate of 13% and would last from July 1, 2006 to April 1, 2007, paradoxically reduced the number of comments and discussions. The uncertainty in the actions of the authorities is apparently more worrying. And according to sociological surveys, very few Russians believe in the success of the tax amnesty, as well as in the expediency of the tax amnesty.