The Ministry of Finance plans to fulfill the budget revenue plan in 2023 – Kommersant

The Russian Ministry of Finance expects to enter the plan for federal budget revenues this year, Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said during a session at the SPIEF. According to him, “nothing critical” is happening to budget revenues.

“Revenues are coming, there is nothing critical. We plan to enter the plan for oil and gas and non-oil and gas revenues,” said Mr. Siluanov.

The minister noted that as part of the budget replenishment, the authorities plan to ensure a fairer taxation of natural resource rent and a fairer account of the mineral extraction tax on oil. “In terms of taxation of economic rent, this year we agreed with business that business will help in terms of its contribution to the overall situation, and adopted a tax on excess profits in the government,” Mr. Siluanov added.

The head of the Ministry of Finance believes that increasing the budget deficit is like throwing fuel on the fire. Such a policy will inevitably lead to acceleration of inflation and growth of rates, Mr. Siluanov noted, emphasizing that this should not be allowed.

According to the Minister of Finance, many items of budget expenditure “can be reviewed.” “We have a lot of expenses that have not been reviewed for 100 years, they sit in our heads, that this is unshakable. There is nothing unshakable, all this needs to be reconsidered,” said Mr. Siluanov.

Over the five months of 2023, oil and gas revenues decreased by 50% compared to the previous year, and the budget deficit is 3 trillion rubles. As part of the fight against the deficit, the government, in particular, approved a draft law on the introduction of a tax on excess profits of past years (the so-called windfall tax). According to the bill, a one-time mandatory fee will affect large Russian enterprises with revenues of more than 1 billion rubles. per year, provided that profit in 2021–2022 was cumulatively higher than profit in 2018–2019. Its rate will be 10% of the difference in profits when paid in 2024, but can be reduced to 5% if the company pays the tax in 2023.

In addition, as it became known to Kommersant, the Ministry of Finance, against the backdrop of the need to replenish the budget, wants to deprive depleted fields, which account for more than a quarter of oil production in the Russian Federation, of tax benefits. We are talking about a deduction from the MET in the amount of 20%, which was supposed to earn in 2024. According to Kommersant’s sources, the Ministry of Finance proposes to postpone the effective date of the deduction by three years. According to experts, the transfer could bring the budget about 460 billion rubles. within three years.

More details – in the material “Maturity is not joy”.

Erdni Kagaltynov