The government is discussing with big business a one-time tax contribution to the budget

The government is discussing with big business a one-time voluntary tax contribution to the budget, First Deputy Prime Minister Andrei Belousov told reporters. According to him, this is not a tax increase, but the so-called windfall tax (tax on windfall profits).

“A voluntary contribution from business, yes, it is being discussed, a one-time contribution,” Belousov said. He noted that last year’s financial results “were very good”, and many companies, especially in the first half of the year, for the first three quarters, the results were “strongly positive.” Now this topic is under discussion, he added.

According to a source close to the government, we are talking about 250 billion rubles. The first vice-premier stressed that this is “not a tax increase”. In tax practice, there is such a thing as windfall tax – this is a one-time tax collection, Belousov explained, emphasizing that this is considered as a “voluntary history” exclusively for large businesses.

Earlier, The Bell (recognized as a foreign agent) reported that in December the government offered businesses to make a one-time payment to the budget of 200-250 billion rubles. Business came up with a counterproposal to increase the 20% income tax on Russian companies by 0.5 percentage points in 2023, the publication reported.

According to a source close to the government, a position on this issue has not been formed, a discussion is underway.

Bloomberg wrote that in December the government proposed a “revenue mobilization”, among the measures discussed was an increase in dividends for state-owned companies and lump sum payments from large companies.

On February 6, the Ministry of Finance published the execution of the budget for January – the gap between income and expenditure amounted to 1.76 trillion rubles, or 60% of the expected level for the year. At the same time, revenues fell by 35% compared to January 2022, while expenditures, on the contrary, increased sharply – by 59% to 3.1 trillion rubles. According to the current budget law, revenues for 2023 are planned in the amount of 26.1 trillion rubles, expenses – 29 trillion, thus, the deficit is expected at the level of 2.9 trillion, or 2% of GDP. Borrowings in the domestic market should become the main sources of its coverage. At the same time, this year, to ensure a balanced budget, it is possible to use the funds of the National Wealth Fund in the amount of 2.9 trillion.

Experts interviewed by Vedomosti believe that the federal treasury deficit in 2023 may exceed the plan and amount to 4 trillion rubles. At the end of 2022, the budget was executed with a deficit of 3.3 trillion rubles. instead of the originally planned surplus of 1.3 trillion rubles: revenues amounted to almost 28 trillion rubles, and expenses – more than 31 trillion rubles.