Deputy Sergei Ivanov (LDPR) believes that it is unfair to impose the same administrative fines on citizens of different incomes. He introduced amendments to the Code of Administrative Offenses to the State Duma, which allow the fine to be set depending on the financial status of the citizen. It is proposed to multiply the standard fine by a coefficient calculated as the offender's income for the previous year divided by the average Russian subsistence minimum. "The purpose of punishment is to prevent offenses," Ivanov reasons. "But this task is not being fulfilled now, because for some citizens the fine is not significant."

Another deputy of the LDPR faction, Aleksandr Chuyev, is also fighting for justice. He is concerned about the troubles of residents of demolished houses. According to the current Housing Code, the authorities are obliged to provide residents of houses being resettled only with monetary compensation, “buying out” their old apartment or house at “market price”. But the market value of old housing is incomparable with the price of new housing, especially in the context of speculative inflated construction costs, Chuyev is indignant. The bill he introduced proposes to include a norm in the Housing Code that would oblige the authorities to provide residents of demolished houses with equivalent housing. “If equivalent housing cannot be provided, the owner is provided with a larger space, and no additional payment is charged for the additional space provided,” the amendments say.

Eight communist deputies, including Deputy Chairman of the Budget Committee Sergei Shtogrin and former State Duma Speaker Gennady Seleznev, have gone even further in the fight against social inequality. The amendments they wrote to the Tax Code will revive the progressive income tax scale from January 1, 2007. At the same time, it is proposed to exempt citizens who earn less than 60,000 rubles a year from the tax. According to the bill, citizens with an annual salary from 60,000 to 280,000 rubles pay a tax at a rate of 13%. According to the deputies, citizens should give the state 20% of their income from 280,000 to 600,000 rubles a year, and 30% from salaries over 600,000 rubles.

The tax burden on individuals is not distributed in favor of low-income citizens, the explanatory note to the bill says. Highly paid workers not only enjoy the 13% rate on an equal basis with everyone else, they also have a preferential single social tax, which decreases with the growth of earnings. If the bill is approved, citizens will pay 118.6 billion rubles more to the budget already in 2007, the authors of the document calculated. They believe that this will seriously strengthen regional and local budgets, for which income tax is one of the main sources of income.

The Duma is unlikely to support this initiative, says Deputy Chairman of the Budget Committee Igor Rudensky (United Russia). Now the whole world is moving towards unification of income tax: let the rich pay less taxes, but at least they will not take money out of the country to offshore accounts, he explains. The draft law on fines also has little chance, says Chairman of the Legislation Committee Pavel Krasheninnikov (United Russia). “This initiative is similar to proposals to create paid prisons,” Krasheninnikov says ironically. Citizens are equal before the law regardless of their property status. According to the Constitution, if a person deserves punishment, responsibility should follow regardless of his income, Krasheninnikov notes.

“These bills are not designed to be adopted,” says Alexey Makarkin from the Center for Political Technologies, surprised by the seriousness of the previous commentators. Deputies are preparing for the elections, which are just over a year away, he explains. Having prepared an amendment, a deputy gets the opportunity to talk about it from the rostrum of the State Duma, which in itself is effective PR, even if the document is rejected. In addition, the deputy or his faction will be able to report to voters how many useful laws they have prepared and introduced. And they failed to pass them through the Duma because it was captured by the party in power.

Chuev, meanwhile, is confident that the Duma will support his bill. He just needs to include someone from United Russia as a co-author, he explains. According to Chuev, this has happened more than once with his initiatives, including radical ones. “Not a single amendment has passed under my name, but almost all proposals signed by the group of authors have been successfully approved,” the deputy says.

Amendments for self-promotion