Communists plan to submit draft Tax and Labor Codes to the autumn session

The Communist Party faction in the State Duma in the autumn session plans to submit two drafts for consideration at once: new editions of the Labor and Tax Codes (the current ones have been in force since 2001 and 1998, respectively). This was announced to journalists by the first deputy chairman of the Central Committee of the Communist Party Yuri Afonin. Communist Party leader Gennady Zyuganov added that “the initiatives have already been formalized in the relevant documents and will be submitted during the first meeting.”

The Labor Code, according to Afonin, is being developed by a team led by Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Control Committee Grigory Kamnev. “This code will be aimed at the interests of working people, the development of the trade union movement, providing young people with the first job and a number of social guarantees,” Afonin says. The project, according to him, provides for the expansion of the powers of trade unions, including fixing their mandatory participation in the discussion of wage cuts (trade unions already participate in resolving a number of issues as part of the RTK).

The document also introduces specialized labor courts that resolve labor disputes. In addition, the project adds two dates to the list of non-working holidays: July 1 – the Day of Combat Veterans and November 7 – the Day of the Great October Socialist Revolution. The latter ceased to be a day off after the 2004 amendments. Then the Day of National Unity appeared in the code, which is now celebrated on November 4th.

The tax code of the communists assumes a progressive scale of taxation. Also, the Communist Party plans to introduce taxes on super-wealth and luxury and additionally impose taxes on super-profits of banks. The draft Tax Code is being developed by a team led by Mikhail Shchapov, First Deputy Chairman of the Duma Committee on Budget and Taxes.

Zyuganov added that the faction has developed 12 bills that will help shape the future budget. Previously, the party has repeatedly proposed to introduce a progressive income tax, but the government gave a negative opinion. Deputy Chairman of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation Dmitry Novikov recalled the previously rejected draft of the Electoral Code of the party and said that the Communists are ready “at any parliamentary hearings in connection with the current election campaign to prove with new arguments [его необходимость]”.

Zyuganov focused on the ideological component of the bills. “The patriotic forces of our faction see the main task in defeating the Nazis,” he said. To achieve this, according to Zyuganov, three steps will help: the mobilization of all resources, the rallying of society against the “main evil” and the development of the latest technologies through the financing of science.

The draft codes of the communists have no chance of being adopted. Therefore, say experts interviewed by Vedomosti, it looks more like populist pre-election moves that will be used during the federal campaign.

“This is quite a traditional agenda for the communists. The presidential elections are coming soon, the Communist Party of the Russian Federation will participate in them, so they need to additionally attract attention with some initiatives,” said Alexei Makarkin, First Vice President of the Center for Political Technologies. However, the expert added, voters have already learned to distinguish laws from bills that are talked about during the election season and then not implemented. In this regard, Makarkin believes, there will be no great excitement around the initiatives of the communists.

Political scientist Aleksey Chadayev agrees with his colleague: the Communist Party of the Russian Federation “works out the 2024 agenda in advance, marking the line that they will lead by March next year.” “This is a way of self-actualization in the eyes of our own voters – we were not inactive and fought for what was important. Everyone else will either not notice or attribute it to United Russia,” Mikhail Vinogradov, head of the Petersburg Politics Foundation, told Vedomosti. Moreover, he says, the Labor Code “does not particularly regulate all real conflict situations.”

The presidential elections are to be held on March 17, 2024. Three of the five parliamentary parties announced their nominations for them: the Liberal Democratic Party, New People, and the Communist Party of the Russian Federation. The Communists have never missed a presidential election in 30 years, but twice, in 2004 and 2018. – Nominated as a candidate not Zyuganov, but first agrarian deputy Nikolai Kharitonov, then a non-party entrepreneur, general director of the State Farm. Lenin Pavel Grudinin. Afonin stated on February 27, 2023 that Gennady Zyuganov is the party’s first presidential candidate, but other proposals are being discussed. Prior to that, in November 2021, Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation Sergey Obukhov showed a presentation at a forum of political professionals, in which among the possible nominees from the party were the first deputy chairman of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation Yuri Afonin and the governor of the Oryol region, a member of the Presidium of the Central Committee Andrey Klychkov.