The Ministry of Finance allowed the introduction of an excise tax on medical alcohol

In 2024, the excise tax may be extended to all alcohol produced in Russia, including medical alcohol. About it reported Deputy Minister of Finance Alexey Sazanov in an interview with RIA Novosti.

“This year, of course, we won’t introduce it, but next year it’s possible,” he said. According to the Ministry of Finance, under this condition, additional revenues to the budget will amount to 15 to 20 billion rubles.

Sazanov explained that the problem is to develop a mechanism for subsidizing drug manufacturers and create a list of such drugs. Because of this, the timing of the introduction of the excise tax depends on how quickly the authorities find a mechanism that would allow “to avoid an increase in the cost of socially important medications.”

The deputy minister noted that the initiative will solve the problem of the “shadow” alcohol market, since all alcohol will be subject to excise tax, regardless of its purpose. “No one will have any preferences, and, therefore, sales of non-excise alcohol will be practically minimized,” he added.

With the initiative to introduce an excise tax on all ethyl alcohol produced in Russia in July spoke Speaker of the Federation Council Valentina Matvienko. She noted that in 2022, with medical needs of 1.6 million decaliters of medical alcohol, 6.8 million decaliters were produced. According to Matvienko, from these surpluses 13 million decalitres of illegal vodka and other alcohol-containing products were produced.