Rollback in law

The Kremlin slowed down United Russia

The base rate of transport tax in Russia will not increase. The Duma majority, which last week hastened to approve the corresponding amendments to the Tax Code, after a recommendation received from the presidential administration, just as quickly changed its opinion to the exact opposite. Yesterday, the head of the Kremlin administration, Sergei Naryshkin, said that parliament was recommended to reconsider its decision, and State Duma Speaker Boris Gryzlov assured that the base tax rate will remain at the level established in 2003. Thus, the version of the amendments that was introduced by the government and last Friday was adopted in the third and final reading thanks to the almost unanimous support of Mr. Gryzlov’s colleagues in the United Russia faction has been disavowed.

The scandalous history of the bill, which United Russia passed (for obvious reasons without much effort) despite the protests of opposition parties and the clearly negative reaction of the target audience - car owners, allows us to draw two conclusions. Firstly, the Kremlin has demonstrated that it is ready to take into account, if not the “voice of the people,” then, in any case, the opinion of the most active social groups capable of clearly expressing their dissatisfaction—in this case, the opinion of motorists. Secondly, the largest faction of our parliament was far from in the most favorable position. Recent elections to regional parliaments raised many questions for the local branches of the party in power, but now United Russia has acted at the federal level as a lobbyist for clearly unpopular decisions, which is also unlikely to benefit the image of this party.

The socio-political battles have practically forgotten why the increase in the base rate of transport tax was actually intended, as well as the right of the regions to increase the tax five times above the base rate. In theory, this measure, as well as increasing excise taxes on tobacco, beer and alcohol, was intended to compensate regional budgets for expenses associated with a drop in revenue from other taxes. A gap had formed in the regional treasuries between revenues and expenses (the economic crisis also played a role) - this hole was supposed to be patched, including by increasing the base tax rate.

“I can say that many regions, having seen this draft only in the first reading, ran to adopt their initiatives,” Oksana Goncharenko, a leading expert at the Center for Political Conjuncture, noted in an interview with a Vremya Novostei correspondent. Although a number of regional administrations, on the contrary, assured that they would maintain the current tax rates, the reaction of motorists to the actions of the federal government and parliament was predictable and did not take long to wait. A few but noticeable protests took place across the country - in the capital, dissatisfied drivers even tried to block the Moscow Ring Road.

The head of the presidential administration, Sergei Naryshkin, voicing the position of the highest authorities yesterday, emphasized that the law will be revised precisely under the influence of public opinion. “Russian citizens, car enthusiasts, professional drivers, and public organizations spoke out against increasing the transport tax rate,” stated Mr. Naryshkin. Taking this fact into account, President Dmitry Medvedev gave instructions to hold a meeting on Sunday with the participation of representatives of the executive branch, State Duma deputies and senators, where the position of legislators was adjusted. However, according to the Duma Speaker, Chairman of the Supreme Council of United Russia Boris Gryzlov, the decision to refuse to increase transport tax rates was made even earlier - after consultations with regional legislative assemblies, as well as with the Union of Motorists of Russia and other public organizations.

Opponents of the party in power, in turn, insist that United Russia members changed their minds on orders from above. “The main reason that the transport tax will not be increased many times over is that the authorities were afraid of mass protests, but one cannot help but emphasize another aspect of this problem - the complete lack of independence of State Duma deputies from the United Russia faction,” said Vice Speaker of the State Duma, First Deputy Chairman of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation Ivan Melnikov. “United Russia members do not hesitate to change their decisions to the exact opposite within a couple of days.” A fellow party member of Comrade Melnikov, deputy Vladimir Kashin, said that “in private conversations, many United Russia deputies said last Friday that they were against a multiple increase in the transport tax, but they voted as the leadership of this faction ordered.”

The fact that similar opinions were expressed by deputies of regional legislative assemblies from United Russia was also stated in a conversation with a Vremya Novostei correspondent by Sergei Kanaev, a member of the coordination council of the Federation of Car Owners of Russia. “That’s what they told us: if there had not been an order to vote “for,” we would have voted “against,” says Mr. Kanaev. In his opinion, the fact that the law, introduced by the government and approved in three readings, was slowed down is a case that has practically no precedent. “Even the decision to monetize benefits, which the authorities adjusted after mass protests, was made not at the level of law, but at the level of government decree,” our interlocutor emphasizes. Mr. Kanaev, head of the Moscow branch of the FAR, the organization responsible for most of the recent protests by motorists, considers the incident a victory for the auto community. “For car owners, this is, of course, a balm for wounds and additional confirmation that you can and should fight for your rights, because the result is obvious,” Kanaev emphasizes. The leader of the capital branch of the FAR promises that the movement will not stop there - automobile activists are going to challenge the constitutionality of the transport tax itself in its current form.

“The supreme power, of course, has learned a certain lesson - this kind of bills cannot be passed without agreement with society,” Viktor Pokhmelkin, leader of the Russian Motorists Movement, told Vremya Novostey. According to him, the public reaction was somewhat unexpected for the authorities - “apparently, the calculation was that the next unpopular decision would be swallowed.” However, the attempt to double the basic rate of transport tax was the straw that broke the cup of patience. “The point is not even in the actions that took place throughout the country - not many people took part in them, but the authorities sensed the negative mood of the middle class as a whole and, apparently, were somewhat afraid,” Mr. Pokhmelkin believes. At the same time, society is again convinced that the legislative branch is just a “machine for stamping laws,” the leader of the DAR emphasizes. “An extremely important law has just been adopted - as they say, the ink is not yet dry, and it is already being withdrawn. This is simply indecent for serious majority parties - one could say that United Russia had lost face if it had that face,” Mr. Pokhmelkin notes, not without sarcasm.

According to political scientist Dmitry Oreshkin, “United Russia is unlikely to be very afraid of discrediting itself in the eyes of voters, because United Russia voters are more and more virtual.” Nevertheless, he believes that the scandal weakens the position of United Russia in the eyes of the same bureaucratic class. “What is happening is beyond understanding,” notes Mr. Oreshkin. - Gryzlov passed the law, suddenly he was given a command, and he said back: “Sorry, guys, I didn’t think about it, I didn’t appreciate it.” Of course, this does not look solid, it indicates situationalism and dependence of the party.” According to Mr. Oreshkin, this situation indicates that the interests of the Kremlin and the White House are gradually diverging. “The government solves its problem, and the president solves his: he must not lose the support of the middle class. And here there is an opportunity to earn a little money. Mironov (leader of A Just Russia, speaker of the Federation Council - Ed. ) will say: “We stopped the anti-people initiative.” And the Kremlin can say the same. “United Russia understood this situation and decided to work back,” the political scientist sums up.

Leading expert of the Center for Current Political Affairs Oksana Goncharenko, on the contrary, believes that this scandal will not discredit United Russia. “It seems to me that this is a normal process of finalizing the law,” the political scientist believes. — It’s just that this process affects a lot of people, which is why the initiative was so loud. In general, many laws are being finalized, there’s nothing wrong with that.”

Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Budget and Taxes, United Russia member Andrei Makarov, in an interview with Vremya Novostey, tried to argue for the adoption of the law. “There was no tax increase,” the parliamentarian emphasized. “Even if the State Duma really wanted to raise the tax, it would not have such an opportunity, because it is not within its competence.” The transport tax is a regional tax, the deputy recalled, and at the level of the Tax Code a base tax rate is established, based on which regional parliaments set the amount of the tax. “They had a range,” Mr. Makarov emphasizes. -- By increasing the base tax rate, rather than the tax itself, the State Duma has expanded the range of decision-making opportunities for the regional parliament to formulate its budget. At the same time, in order to be able not to increase the tax, it was established that at the same time this rate could be reduced not by five times, as it was before, but by ten times.” Therefore, the parliamentarian said, “in terms of what people have to pay, absolutely nothing has changed. Another thing is that, unfortunately, an incorrect discussion led to people deciding that starting next year they will pay more. This is actually not in the law.”

Retroactive laws

On April 20, 2007, President Vladimir Putin rejected the legislative initiative of United Russia, sending for revision the federal law “On the Banner of Victory,” adopted by the State Duma on April 6, 2007. In it, State Duma deputies, who overcame the veto of the Federation Council, proposed removing the workers' and peasants' symbols - the hammer and sickle - from the banner. The letter cites “numerous appeals from veterans’ organizations” as the reason for rejecting the law. However, judging by the message, the law has not been completely rejected: the president considers “additional consultations on it necessary.”

On January 22, 2007, a bill restricting the holding of mass events was withdrawn from the Duma. The bill seriously tightened the rules for holding public events and actually allowed the authorities to cancel any mass protests in order to prevent “illegal actions.” However, after a meeting of the leaders of the United Russia faction with the deputy head of the presidential administration Vladislav Surkov in the State Duma on January 19, 2007, the authors of the bill withdrew the document.

On July 27, 2005, President Vladimir Putin vetoed the federal law on regulating the circulation of scrap ferrous and non-ferrous metals, adopted by the State Duma and approved by the Federation Council.

On June 18, 2003, the State Duma adopted in the first and immediately in the third, final reading the law on inheritance, providing for an inheritance tax of 5 to 40%. However, on April 25, 2005, President Vladimir Putin, in his message to the Federal Assembly, stated that he “would consider it right to abolish the property tax,” and instructed the Prime Minister to prepare and submit to the Duma a new bill on the inheritance tax. As a result, on June 1, 2005, the law was repealed.

On December 21, 2004, President Vladimir Putin vetoed the law “On restrictions on the retail sale and consumption (drinking) of beer and drinks made on its basis,” adopted by the State Duma and approved by the Federation Council in November 2004.

On November 25, 2002, President Vladimir Putin vetoed amendments to the media law adopted by the State Duma on November 11, 2002 and approved by the Federation Council. The amendments prohibited the media from disseminating any information that could be used by terrorists. First of all, this concerned the details of the counter-terrorist operation, the technology of manufacturing weapons or explosives.

Mikhail MOSHKIN, Ksenia VERETENNIKOVA