Quotas are exchanged for taxes – Newspaper Kommersant No. 152 (7353) of 08/22/2022

Crab anglers continue to try to achieve the cancellation of the second stage of the distribution of 50% of crab catches planned for 2023 under the investment quota program. The All-Russian Association of Fishermen (VARPE) proposed to the State Duma to initiate the replacement of the procedure by increasing the rates of fees for catching the resource by eight times with the obligation to build crab catchers for large miners. Supporters of investment quotas believe that companies will find a way to optimize taxes, while the Federal Agency for Fishery insists on holding auctions and increasing fees for fishing crabs.

At the disposal of Kommersant was a letter from VARPE Chairman German Zverev dated August 17 to State Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin with a proposal to abandon the second stage of investment quotas for crab fishing. As an alternative, the association proposes to increase the fees for harvesting crab by 2.8-8 times, up to 23.5-224.7 thousand rubles. per ton, which will lead to an increase in the amount of fees to the budget up to 202.5 billion rubles over 15 years. against the current 6.8 billion rubles. The WARPE also proposes to oblige large quota holders to build crab fishers until 2033 at the rate of one vessel per 1,000 tons of production per year. In the State Duma, “Kommersant” did not answer.

The bill with the parameters of the second stage of the investment quota program was submitted to the State Duma on August 8. It provides for the allocation of 50% of the total allowable catch of crabs for investment purposes. The bill should enter into force on January 1, 2023. According to the forecasts of the Federal Agency for Fishery, within the second stage, investors will build 35 crab fishermen. The adoption of the law may lead to the cessation of work of 36 crab enterprises due to lack of resources, German Zverev warns. He agrees that the increase in fees is a high tax burden, but “it will not lead to the removal of the business.”

VARPE, following the Association of Fisheries Enterprises of Primorye, also suggested that the speaker of the State Duma hold parliamentary hearings in September on the second stage of distribution of investment quotas and analyze the results of the first stage, which raised questions from the Accounts Chamber. In 2021, auditors recognized the results of crab auctions as unsatisfactory: companies got quotas at low prices and no new players appeared on the market, recalls Mr. Zverev.

The Federal Agency for Fishery told Kommersant that they are familiar with the VARPE initiative. They noted that a year ago the State Duma adopted in the first reading amendments to the Tax Code, providing for an increase in the rates approved back in 2004 for catching highly profitable aquatic biological resources. The ministry clarified that the increase in rates is not currently considered as an alternative to the second stage of the distribution of investment quotas.

Not all market participants support the WARPE initiative. General Director of the Russian Crab Group of Companies Alexander Sapozhnikov believes that the proposal to tie the volume of quotas to the obligation to build crab fisheries will force us to look for ways to “tax optimization”, splitting the business and going into the gray zone. German Zverev responds by pointing out that large crab harvesters enjoy an 85% discount on resource fees.

The proposed VARPE increase in fees instead of auctions will only lead to the transfer of funds from one budget channel to another with the uncertainty of investment incentives for companies, says Alexei Osintsev, president of the Association of Fishing Fleet Owners. Now that there are problems with the export of export-oriented crab abroad, cardinal changes in the regulation of production are unnecessary, says Ilya Bereznyuk, managing partner of Agro & Food Communications.

Chairman of the Board of Directors of the North-West Fishing Consortium Dmitry Ozersky doubts that the idea of ​​raising rates will be accepted as an alternative to the second stage of distribution of investment quotas. This would be possible if the goal of the second stage would be solely to increase the fees to the budget and build new ships. So, he suggests, the purpose of the next distribution of quotas is the consolidation of the industry.

Alexey Polukhin