For the execution of the May decrees of Putin, a sales tax may be introduced again

Russian regions can receive the right to introduce sales tax, abolished since 2004. This was reported by Vedomosti with reference to the head of the Ministry of Finance Anton Siluanov. The tax rate, according to the department, will determine the regions themselves, but in any case it will not be able to exceed 3 percent. The annual revenues to the budget from the collection of tax from sales of Siluanov estimated about 200 billion rubles.

As certain federal officials told the publication, the Ministry of Finance is actively supported in the Kremlin. Officials called the proposed tax to the regions that are forced to execute the May decrees of Vladimir Putin without any financial support of the center.

It is reported that the tax will be introduced in addition to VAT, which is levied to the federal budget. At the same time, one of the officials noted, both taxes - on value added and from sales - were introduced only in Canada from developed countries. Any of them is charged in the USA and Europe.

Meanwhile, the deputy head of the Ministry of Economic Development Sergei Belyakov said that his department was opposed to the introduction of sales tax.

A certain official of the financial and economic bloc of the government noted that, as the experience of the 1990-2000s shows, this tax will be difficult to administer. Another federal official, engaged in regional policy, objected that since the beginning of the 2000s the situation has changed significantly - now large retail chains have occupied a large share of the market, and it is easier to control them. Siluanov, for his part, also stated that it would be possible to collect sales tax only in the regions where such networks are present.

According to Andrei Karpov, the executive director of the Retail Company Association, the introduction of tax will result in an increase in consumer prices. Representatives of retailers - the general director of the Magnit network Sergey Galitsky and the president of the Dixy group Ilya Yakubson agreed with this. “Retail prices will increase by 3 percent,” said Galitsky. Yakubson explained: "Large retail networks work in severe competition, operate with minimal margins, their profitability is 1-3 percent - there is no other solution, except to transfer additional tax burden to the retail price."