The State Duma Committee criticized the Ministry of Finance’s project from the budget package – Kommersant

The State Duma Committee on Budget and Taxes criticized introduced to parliament along with the state budget project main directions of budget, tax and customs tariff policies. The committee had a number of comments on the document developed by the Ministry of Finance, but it still recommended its adoption as part of the draft federal budget.

Committee members felt that the draft guidelines “do not reflect the country’s real objectives.” The committee’s response also states that the establishment of a plan for the tax and customs services for additional fees may indicate a return “to the practice of “tax terror”.” We are talking, as the committee explains, about the “task” announced by the head of the Ministry of Finance Anton Siluanov for the Federal Tax Service (FTS) and the Federal Customs Service (FCS) to increase the collection of taxes and fees by 500 billion rubles.

The committee’s draft review also states that the draft introduced by the Ministry of Finance “is not filled with any real content,” and the previous comments of the deputies were ignored. “The main directions are meaningless and vacuous material that does not reflect the real new tasks of budget and tax policy that must be fulfilled in the next budget cycle. The State Duma has submitted material that includes, as tasks that must be done, a list of sectoral measures that are not new and have already been implemented or are being implemented,” the committee explains.

At the same time, members of the committee voted for the adoption of the federal budget of the Russian Federation for 2024 and the planning period of 2025-2026, at the same time as the draft they criticized was being considered,

The Ministry of Finance has not yet commented on the opinion of the relevant Duma committee.

On September 29, the Russian government introduced to the State Duma bill about the federal budget. According to the document, federal budget expenditures next year are planned at 36.6 trillion rubles, in 2025 – 34.4 trillion rubles, in 2026 – 35.6 trillion rubles. 10.8 trillion rubles will be allocated for defense in 2024.

Alexander Kislov