Russians with a salary of up to 30 thousand rubles were offered to be exempt from taxes: what’s the catch?

Economist Suverov: “Payments in envelopes will increase sharply”

A group of deputies submitted to the State Duma a bill on the abolition of personal income tax (NDFL) for those who earn less than 30 thousand rubles per month. It would seem like a good start. However, independent experts are skeptical about the initiative. MK asked candidate of economic sciences, financial analyst Mikhail Belyaev and investment strategist of Arikapital Management Company Sergei Suverov to express their opinion about it.

A group of deputies introduced a bill to abolish personal income tax for Russians with salaries of up to 30 thousand rubles per month to the State Duma on September 27. According to the authors, “taxing people who live paycheck to paycheck is unacceptable.”

Mikhail Belyaev, Candidate of Economic Sciences, financial analyst:

“Proposals to abolish the payment of personal income tax to people whose salaries are at the lowest level have been voiced both among deputies and among entrepreneurs for many years. Everyone is confused by the threshold at which it is necessary to stop: either it is the living wage or the minimum wage. The latter indicator is easier to work with because it changes at the state level. At the same time, only after calculating the family budget does it become much easier to argue and construct your own tax base: a person will receive a certain amount in hand and only based on his own costs, he will be able to give the required part to the state.

In this regard, there are no clear advantages from the proposal of the deputies yet. Russians, even those who were lucky enough to get an increased salary, are unlikely to repay debts urgently or invest in not very attractive bank deposits.

Sergey Suverov, investment strategist of Arikapital Management Company, Candidate of Economic Sciences:

“At first glance, it seems that the deputies’ proposal is in favor of the lowest paid categories of workers. In fact, its implementation may turn into a problem in the relationship between employers and employees. It is quite possible that payments in envelopes will increase sharply – the scale of payments in the “gray” form, which is still practiced in Russia, threatens to increase. The abandonment of personal income tax will force many private employers to think about transferring their employees to half-shift or work on a temporary contract. For the workers themselves, this form of payment will be a severe blow: it is unlikely that anyone will warn them about such steps in advance, and, as practice shows, there are not many employees who can challenge the reduction of their cash rate.”