Translated material
Road surface
Georgy Boos increases transport tax due to old cars and new highways
The fashion for increasing transport taxes seems to be becoming a nationwide trend. Moreover, each region has its own motivation. The authorities of the westernmost region of the country - the Kaliningrad region - announced another increase in rates. They are not bothered by the fact that the tax (already high) is not collected in the required amount even now. Officials intend to continue to raise rates, simultaneously organizing raids on debtors right on the roads.The initiative to increase the transport tax was made by Kaliningrad Governor Georgy Boos. This is one of his favorite topics. The Kaliningrad region, despite its small size and modest population (less than 950 thousand people), is highly motorized - literally every third person here is on wheels. At the same time, people mostly drive not new cars, but used ones bought in Lithuania, Poland or Germany. Many people acquired an “iron horse” before 2006, when incentives were still in effect, then it was possible to relatively inexpensively import a used foreign car from abroad into the region, which, as a rule, is superior in reliability to new analogues of the domestic automobile industry.
Increasing the transport tax by at least two times (and for certain categories of vehicles by five times) was one of the first steps that Georgy Boos took when he exchanged the position of vice-speaker of the State Duma of the Russian Federation for the governorship in the Kaliningrad region in 2005. And then this caused extreme anger among motorists. People hung orange ribbons on their cars to protest against such measures, creating a tense situation that Mr. Boos' opponents even tried to use for political purposes. But people, as they say, get used to everything, and so they also got used to the raised transport tax rates. Now Kaliningrad residents will have to get used to even larger amounts.
At a recent meeting of the regional government, the head of the regional Ministry of Finance, Elena Matveeva, presented a draft law according to which it is proposed to revise transport tax rates by introducing increasing coefficients adjusted for inflation (that is, in 2009 plus 12.8%, and in 2010 - - another 10%). Indexation was planned to be extended to cars and trucks with an engine power of up to 150 and over 250 horsepower, as well as buses, boats, and motorboats, whose engines “live” up to 100 “horses.” According to Elena Matveeva, as a result, the regional budget will receive about 85 million rubles.
Such an increase could be called relatively liberal, but Mr. Boos considered that more radical measures were required. He proposed, for example, to completely abandon support for those motorists who own old cars. “Should the transport tax encourage people to purchase modern cars that meet strict environmental requirements, or old ones that have nowhere to throw away except in the Kaliningrad region?” - the governor asked Minister Matveeva. She quietly said that, of course, we need new transport. “Why give benefits to old cars?” - The governor continued, adding metal to his voice. “So are we removing the benefit?” - the head of the Ministry of Finance showed insight. "Yes!" - answered Mr. Boos.
He studied the ministerial proposals a little more, and this did not improve his mood. Mr. Boos saw that in the Novgorod region the transport tax rates are higher than in the Kaliningrad region, after which he stated that “we also need the maximum.” “We need to build roads! And they must be built at the expense of those who travel on them. This is fair,” is his reasoning.
The statement about the need to build roads is very appropriate - residents of Kaliningrad, for example, have been waiting for many years for a second elevated bridge to appear in the city. There are a lot of cars in the capital of the region, the streets (inherited from the German Königsberg) are usually narrow, traffic jams are constantly created, and it is impossible to pass them during rush hour. The second overpass would have significantly relieved the city’s congestion, and its construction even began under the former mayor of Kaliningrad, Yuri Savenko. But then priority number one became the “Primorsk Ring” - a wide highway that is planned to be built from Kaliningrad along the coast.
Now the first section of the route is being completed (I would like to believe that this will not be a problem) - to the airport, which Kaliningrad officials so often visit. There are no traffic jams for them, who have escort cars or flashing lights and sirens. And in order to receive substantial sums from the federal budget for the Primorsky Ring, local authorities need to demonstrate that they are making their contribution - increasing, for example, the transport tax, directing the money received to construction.
It's just that there are problems with the latter. Kaliningraders do not want to pay large sums for their “iron horses”. At the end of 2007, it was planned to receive about 400 million rubles from residents of the region. transport tax. However, in reality, less than half was collected. A number of influential deputies of the regional Duma even stated that fiscal policy needs to be revised - is it necessary to raise rates like that? But the regional government did not change its position. At the same time, local tax officials are tasked with catching those who do not pay transport taxes right on the roads. There is a special computer program that calculates the debtor based on the state number. So people, apparently, will still be forced to pay. But only this can lead to the fact that serviceable transport tax payers will begin to save money - they will change, for example, the fuel filter or oil less often. Will the environment or the quality of the roads that the regional government cares so much about benefit from this?