Translated material
Principled Boos
Kaliningrad authorities intend to prove in court the legality of increasing transport taxes
The law on transport tax, which shook up the situation in the Kaliningrad region so much that it led to several protest rallies of thousands, was again the subject of judicial review. In mid-March, the regional prosecutor's office obtained a court decision, according to which it was recognized that the Kaliningrad authorities, by increasing tax rates, acted illegally - the increase should be canceled for all types of vehicles. Considering the painful reaction of Kaliningrad residents to changes in transport tax rates, one could have expected that the authorities would agree with the court decision and implement it. But that was not the case. The government and the regional Duma recently sent cassation appeals to the court, in which the legality of the decision was challenged.Three large rallies have taken place in the Kaliningrad region over the past six months. The reason for the first (in December 2009) was a sharp increase in vehicle tax rates (the more horsepower under the hood, the more serious the amount that must be paid; for some types of cars the increase turned out to be twofold). This caused discontent among many Kaliningrad residents, which resulted in a protest rally attended by about 4 thousand people. In January 2010, the authorities had to roll back the situation with the transport tax a little. Kaliningrad Governor Georgy Boos said that in 2010 rates will remain at the 2009 level, but, however, in 2011 everyone should prepare for an increase in rates at double the rate of inflation. The regional parliament adopted a corresponding law. Deputies of the regional Duma behaved extremely sluggishly on this difficult issue. Only two or three people from United Russia were able to find the strength within themselves and, at one of the meetings with Mr. Boos, openly warn: don’t anger people, don’t raise the stakes. But these warnings turned out to be useless. Having announced a reduction in rates, regional officials believed that this would end the conflict situation.
However, the rally on January 30 showed that the number of problems, on the contrary, has grown. Already 10 thousand people came to this protest action (data from the Internal Affairs Directorate), and slogans of not only an economic nature, but also political ones were heard (they demanded, for example, that Mr. Boos be dismissed, his term of office expires in September 2010) . The massive scale of this rally was unexpected for the regional authorities - few believed that people would dare to take to the streets in such numbers.
By that time, the issue of transport tax had already become a reason for people to express open dissatisfaction, followed by a chain of other complaints against the authorities: in particular, they were accused of being “deaf” to the needs of the people and being overly enthusiastic about the “monologue” style of managing the region. Mr. Boos, we must give him his due, managed to largely resolve the situation - until recently, it seems, his team was almost ready to be torn to pieces, and now he, like the president and prime minister, communicates with Kaliningraders on television.
A third rally was planned for the end of February, and all measures were taken to prevent it from taking place. The protest coalition was split, and the regional government carried out a “cleansing of the ranks” (Minister of Health Elena Klyukova, whose actions caused discontent among the population, resigned; she is now accused in a criminal case of negligence). They are trying to involve the dissatisfied as much as possible in the dialogue (some of the particularly “violent” ones were even offered jobs in the government). On the day of the third rally (about 2 thousand people came to it, some staged a tangerine flash mob), Mr. Boos held a four-hour telethon, answering questions live from local residents. By April 20, a draft action program to address the priority problems of residents of the Kaliningrad region should appear. In June, the regional government plans to approve it and begin implementation.
By that time, few people remembered the transport tax, but this controversial issue was still considered in court. The prosecutor's office demanded that it be recognized that the law was adopted with violations (in particular, it was published on the wrong day when required). In addition, the prosecutor's office noted that the words of officials about reducing tax rates in 2010 to the 2009 level do not entirely correspond to reality. For certain categories of vehicles (motorcycles up to and over 20 hp, buses up to and over 200 hp, other self-propelled vehicles, boats, motor boats up to 100 hp, as well as non-self-propelled, towed vessels) tax rates remained too high. The court eventually agreed: if it’s going to be reduced, then it should be in all categories.
However, at the end of March, the Kaliningrad Regional Court received cassation complaints from the Duma and the regional government, challenging the legality of the decision. Duma lawyers, in particular, point out that the tax rates for transport taxes do not exceed the limits established by federal legislation. The Regional Duma also believes that the procedure for publishing the law was followed and the court supported the prosecutor’s argument without any justification. And the government considered the court’s opinion erroneous that posting the text of the law on the government’s website does not have significant legal significance.
At the end of March, the prosecutor of the Kaliningrad region, Alexey Samsonov, came to a meeting of the regional Duma. He told deputies about the rule of law in the region. It so happened that the main part of his speech was devoted to the fight of the prosecutor’s office against “wrong” laws (including, of course, the law on transport tax). After his departure, the deputies began to think: although they pass the laws, they are sent from the government. And the governor's plenipotentiary representative in the regional parliament, Tamara Kuzyaeva, was asked whether the regional government deliberately churns out low-quality laws. “I wouldn’t say that we are doing this deliberately,” she answered frankly. - Lawyers just have different points of view. The prosecutor’s office thinks so, but we think differently.”