Mordashov urged not to raise taxes in Russia – Kommersant

The main shareholder of Severstal, businessman Alexei Mordashov, believes that low taxes in Russia are a driver of economic growth. In his opinion, the increase in taxes has a “huge downside”, so he urged not to raise them.

“The low level of taxes in our country has always been a very powerful stimulus for economic growth, let’s keep this stimulus,” said Alexei Mordashov, answering a question during the session “The Russian Economy: A New Deal. Priorities and Alternatives” at SPIEF.

Earlier today, at another session of SPIEF, Sberbank CEO German Gref declaredthat due to the growth of Russian budget expenditures, business expects an increase in the tax burden from the beginning of 2024.

From the preliminary estimate of the Ministry of Finance, it follows that the expenditures of the Russian budget for the period January-May amounted to 13.229 trillion rubles. This is 27% higher than in 2022. The budget deficit amounted to 3.411 trillion rubles.

Finance Minister Anton Siluanov saidthat this year the Ministry of Finance expects to fulfill the plan for budget revenues. At the same time, the minister did not rule out that many budget expenditure items “can be reviewed.”

Anastasia Larina