So that everything goes up except prices

Deputies want to extend tax breaks for agricultural enterprises until 2011

The start of the new government of Viktor Zubkov coincided with a sharp rise in prices for basic food products and a discussion of the problem of food security. The authorities are trying to resolve the situation using different methods. Among the proposals are the introduction of export duties and grain interventions. To stop the rapid rise in food prices, State Duma deputies are also proposing tax incentive measures. A bill has been submitted to the State Duma extending the zero rate on income tax for agricultural producers.

The bill, introduced by a group of deputies, including two vice-speakers of the State Duma - Vyacheslav Volodin and Vladimir Pekhtin, suggests that the zero rate on income tax for agricultural organizations will not expire on January 1, 2008, as is currently indicated in the Tax Code, and will be valid until January 1, 2011. We are talking about those agricultural producers who, for some reason, have not switched to a single agricultural tax and continue to remain in the general taxation system, paying value added tax, profit tax, income tax, unified social tax, property tax and transport tax.

In terms of income tax, farmers were given a benefit: for 2004-2007, a zero rate was set for them. In order to encourage agricultural producers to switch to an inconvenient agricultural tax, it was assumed that gradually, over ten years, the income tax rate would be raised to the standard level - 24%. For 2008-2009 the rate was supposed to be 6%, for 2010-2011 - 12%, for 2012-2014 - 18%, and from 2015 - 24%. But life forced us to reconsider this schedule. The zero rate has already been extended once. This was in 2006, when the period of application of the zero rate was extended until January 2008.

With today's uncontrolled rise in food prices, the authors of the bill believe, it would be unreasonable to follow the rate increase schedule and abandon the zero income tax rate for agricultural producers. As stated in the explanatory note to the bill, in the context of the incompleteness of long-term measures of the national project for the development of the agro-industrial complex, especially in terms of the development of livestock farming, the abolition of the zero rate will not only inevitably lead to a reduction in funds that can be used to finance the further development of agriculture, but can also undermine trust of agricultural workers in ongoing activities in the agricultural sector .

The authors of the bill have not yet explained what to do with the shortfall in income tax revenues in the already adopted three-year budget, if farmers are given a new deferral of income tax. True, the State Duma Budget Committee assures that the share of agricultural taxes in gross output is so low that the loss of income tax revenue will be insignificant. According to last year's data, this is no more than 5%. Among the taxes paid by farmers, VAT and UST have the largest share.

Irina SKLYAROVA