“This will be one of the serious discussions in parliament”: Putin on the upcoming tax reform

Vladimir Putin, at a meeting with recent rivals, confirmed that the tasks set in the message to the Federal Assembly will require changes to the tax system. In the near future, the government, according to him, will go to the Duma with proposals “how, from whom and how much” (to take). “This will be one of the serious discussions in parliament,” he predicted. The President promised that the taxation system would become fairer and would remain in this form for 6 years. The additional income received can become a source for equalizing wages in the social sphere.

Vladimir Putin began meeting with former political rivals only after the Central Election Commission completed processing 100% of the ballots cast in the Russian presidential election. And their results could be cast in granite: Putin himself ended up with 87.3% of the votes, Nikolai Kharitonov – 4.31%, Vladislav Davankov – 3.85%, Leonid Slutsky – 3.2%. Despite the tangible losses of the communists and liberal democrats (let us recall that in 2018, Pavel Grudinin, who was nominated from the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, received 11.8%, and the then leader of the LDPR Vladimir Zhirinovsky – 5.65%), the president hastened to assure that in reality “the electoral base parliamentary parties have not changed at all.” The “loss” of votes to the main candidate, in his opinion, is explained solely by the “peculiarity of the moment.” Since the Communist electorate is inherently patriotic, it is not surprising that in the current situation “a significant part of the voters” preferred the current head of state and commander-in-chief. But “in ordinary domestic political life” nothing has changed, VVP is sure.

His words spilled like a balm on the wounded heart of Leonid Slutsky, who not only lost almost half of the electorate, but also let the recently unknown Vladislav Davankov pass ahead (For reference: the New People party appeared in parliament only in 2021, and Davankov even is not its leader). “Indeed, we gave a significant number of votes from LDPR members to the main candidate. They gave a lot – they had less for themselves,” Slutsky told amazing things. However, all this, according to him, has absolutely no meaning. The main thing is that Vladimir Putin won a “historic victory” and the election results “confirmed the high authority of the leader of the nation.”

Slutsky said that his election program was practically no different from the tasks set out by Vladimir Putin in his Address to the Federal Assembly. In general, the LDPR, as a party, is in a “growth trend,” although much remains to be done. Russia (and here he, indeed, completely coincided with Putin) should again become a country of large families. To do this, according to Slutsky, it is necessary to restore the nurseries, which “have disappeared somewhere,” as soon as possible. An equally important task is to replace worn-out networks. “Stop freezing people not only in Central Russia, but also in Magadan,” yesterday’s candidate protested. The LDPR leader called on Vladimir Putin to “abolish all taxes for small businesses, except personal income tax.” And the salaries of teachers and doctors in different regions should be equalized so that it doesn’t happen when they pay 20 thousand rubles for the same job in Ivanovo, and 100 thousand rubles in Moscow.

Communist Party candidate Nikolai Kharitonov also spoke in favor of equalizing wages in the social sphere. His speech at the meeting in the Kremlin was, as is customary among communists, voluminous and emotional, but, unfortunately, confusing: from the most powerful consolidation of society they jumped to the fat content of milk, then to scholarships, touched upon the problem of the village, then some Ivanovs and ended with a bet The Central Bank, which, as it turned out, is too high for the “granddaughter” of Kharitonov, who bought an apartment with a mortgage. Here, however, Vladimir Putin did not promise anything. Moreover, for the “granddaughter” and his young wife, the solution has long existed. “There is an incentive to have a first child,” the head of state advised.

Putin agreed that salaries in the social sector in different regions “need to be equalized” – “you are absolutely right here.” However, this requires sources of financing, the president indicated. It is planned to find these sources during the next tax reform. VVP recalled that the Communist Party of the Russian Federation has always said that the taxation system should be fair. “We had a lot of disputes on this matter, but, as you can see, we approached this carefully,” he said, emphasizing that all decisions to be made must be verified. The main thing is to find the “golden mean” from whom, how and how much to take. However, details were still not forthcoming: according to Putin, the government will present them to the deputies.

Vladislav Davankov was the last to speak and immediately hastened to disavow the image of an “opposition candidate”, which he received over several days of voting, thanks to intensive campaigning on social networks. (Recall that Davankov beat Vladimir Putin in several polling stations abroad where relocants voted). Davankov said that there is no justification for the actions of “the Kyiv regime, which is inflicting vile attacks on the Belgorod region.” “We have a common goal – to win the NWO and achieve sustainable peace. It is very important not to leave this confrontation to the next generations, but to solve it for our generation,” said Davankov, noting that only Vladimir Putin can cope with this task. He added that the “New People” faction is also working for Russia’s victory in the Northern Military District and “is trying to do the maximum of what we can do.”

The President did not comment on these statements.