Collection from business entities

The Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs, the Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Business Russia and the Rossi of Russia, in a joint letter, complained to President Vladimir Putin of losses from new fees introduced by the government. This was reported by "Vedomosti" with reference to the text of the document.

Representatives of the business unification consider new fees to violation of agreements on the invariability of the fiscal load. In 2014, Putin introduced a moratorium on the growth of the tax burden until the end of 2018. At the beginning of 2017, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev instructed the ministries to refrain from accepting and entering into the government "projects providing for new payments until the law on them is adopted.

According to the calculations of the authors of the letter, only in 2018, due to new fees and payments that the government made a three-year budget plan, the business will lose more than 100 billion rubles. In particular, from the New Year, duties on the import of machine tools and equipment, a 7-percent recycling fee at heavy and energy engineering, and a 25 percent investment fee in seaports will be valid. Already existing fees are also increased: in particular, a utilization fee for cars will be increased by 15 percent.

These payments are not formally taxes, therefore, the presidential moratorium does not apply to them.

Entrepreneurs predict that an increase in the fiscal load will lead to a reduction in investment, the rise in the cost of production and final products in almost all sectors. For example, this will affect prices for imported equipment and, as a result, on the import of cars, which in 2012-2016 has already been reduced by five times.

In March, the Minister of Finance Anton Siluanov proposed increasing the rate of value added tax to 22 percent , while reducing insurance premiums to the same level. Siluanov argued the need for such changes in the fight against the shadow economy. According to the official, this operation would be "neutral for the budget."