Farewell to "zero"

What is the real meaning of the rejection of the plane of personal income tax

The flat scale of the 13%income tax, which was introduced in Russia in 2001 in order to simplify the fiscal system and legalize income, turned out to be an extremely successful experiment simultaneously with the substantial and PR points of view. It is not surprising that the official position for a long time was inappropriate to revise the current taxation regime of individuals and the transition to tax progression.

But times have changed. The requirement to "share" again became one of the strategic imperatives,

And the system liberals, yesterday with foam at the mouth, together defending a flat scale as their main conquest, apparently, did not find significant political objections against its abolition.

The decision announced by Vladimir Putin on the introduction of a progressive scale of income tax on individuals (personal income tax) in general was not a surprise. You never know that the authorities promised not to increase taxes until 2024: such promises are not considered something sacred and are not violated in the first and, probably, not the last time. Moreover, the introduction of tax progression has long been defended by a variety of experts, who rightly indicated the need to begin to solve the painful problem of inequality in the distribution of population incomes.

But the devil always lies in details - and these details turned out to be quite interesting.

Firstly, it is surprising that the most significant tax innovation of recent years has not pursued far-reaching fiscal goals-at least at first glance. Such a small amount of “steps” of tax progression (only two percentage points) and the high income to which it apply (5 million rubles a year and more earn much less than 1% of taxpayers) are selected that additional budget revenues will amount to only 60 billion rubles.

This is a very modest amount on the scale of Russian budgets, which could be shown by a good dozen other methods that do not change the basic structure of taxation (for example, by canceling certain tax benefits, which were not so long ago estimated at 3.3 trillion rubles).

But try to take away the benefit from qualified lobbyists - it is much easier to distort the flat scale that has become unnecessary.

And in the end, only solid tears: “The rich also cry”, however, they cry somehow not very convincing, and income-the cat cried.

Secondly, funds involved in the progression of income tax are targeted-they should be aimed at treating childhood diseases. There is no doubt about the significance of this area of ​​expenses, but I want to ask a simple question: why was it not financed earlier, with many years of stable surfaces, when it was possible to easily find comparable and even much larger amounts in the budget? Is it really something closer to the hearts of the ruling elites? Alas, there are no these questions of a satisfactory answer.

Thirdly, the basis of the “unity of the cash register” was based on the budget-named ideology of recent years: the equality of all the collected revenues, regardless of their source and the absence of “painted” money in the budgets, directed strictly for certain goals. This principle proceeds from the fact that the distributor of budget allocations at the same time flexible and wise - he knows at any moment in time who needs the money most and directs it there, and therefore it makes no sense to limit his freedom of action by unnecessary restrictions.

Now, not only the talents of the budget planner are called into question, but from now on, the “protected” expenditure articles formed by certain sources of income, for which a fierce struggle will begin, will probably be released again in the budget. It is possible, however, that in the current crisis conditions, the “coloring” of money can also become a saving measure, since almost any direction of allocations can become a slight victim of government economy, subordinated to the fetishism of the “budget rule”.

Fourth, we must recall that the tax on individuals is replenishing regional budgets today. Of course, sick children do not necessarily live in those regions in which, with a high probability, most of the additional receipts of personal income tax will be collected - in the capitals and oil entities of the Federation. In other words, the redistribution of these income in manual mode through the federal budget will be required, aggravating the resource asymmetry between it and the regions.

As it is easy to see, the introduction of the progressive scale of personal income tax today is rather symbolic in nature. And the main signal directed by society is read completely unambiguously.

The authorities are taken by a firm course to strengthen fiscal exemptions and redistributive elements of the budget-tax system,

And the moderation of the first steps in this direction should not deceive anyone. Dashing trouble began.

But there is another, less obvious, but almost no more sign plot. 13%tax on individuals-almost the last preserved relic of structural reforms of the beginning of the current century. Most of those transformations, including pension reform, liberalization of foreign investment and disposition of property, have already ordered to live long. Together with the flat scale of personal income tax, we finally chop off the connection with the zero.

Despite the fact that almost all the most striking characters of the current era originally from the “dashing nineties”, parting with them was given to the Russian authorities relatively easily: in the end, it was necessary to shift the guilt for all kinds of failures and problems. However, with all obvious flaws and economic failure of the 90s, the current “successes” against their background look less convincing every year.

For irrevocable farewell to zero, it took more time, filling the oil and gas cube and a decisive refusal to spend it on combating the consequences of coronavirus, as well as strengthening and digitalizing the fiscal organs.

But there will be much more difficult to hang out here than on the nineties. A flat taxation scale was an organic part of the program of measures, the implementation of which instilled faith in the future both in ordinary citizens and entrepreneurs. It was this program that even before the fever of oil prices gave a powerful impetus to sustainable economic growth in Russia, which continued until the global financial crisis, ensuring the rise of the real well -being of people.

And no matter how many refut the zero, the question of how to instill in people optimism again, raise the pace of economic growth and achieve the increase in citizens' incomes, remains unanswered today.