You have to understand – Newspaper Kommersant No. 202 (7403) dated 10/31/2022

After the coronavirus 2020, we have repeatedly recorded a gradual improvement in the interaction between business and the state against the background of clarification of support measures at the request of business associations, which, in turn, have learned to quite accurately describe the real problems and needs of business. In 2022, after the start of the military operation of the Russian Federation in Ukraine, this mutual understanding remained for the time being, while the efforts of the government and the problems of business were associated, in fact, with economic risks. The White House actively explored the possibilities of protecting domestic companies from sanctions and creating the infrastructure to continue their activities in foreign markets, and business polls showed a sluggish but recovery in business activity indicators.

However, the gradual involvement of the government in satisfying not only the economic but also the military interests of the state could not but break this idyll. Since the end of the summer of 2022, the appeals to the Ministry of Finance of the largest lobbyist for business interests in the Russian Federation, the RSPP, on the topic of an increase in the tax burden “inconsistent” with entrepreneurs, have de facto remained unanswered. On Friday, the head of the union, Alexander Shokhin, addressed another letter on this issue to the head of government, Mikhail Mishustin: he asks for a moratorium on further growth of the tax burden and discussion of tax bills with the business community, and also recalls previous appeals – an increase in insurance premiums by 1-3 % (due to the merger of social and pension insurance funds), the maximum base for them, a direct increase in the MET for a number of industries, etc.

However, there will probably not be a reaction: in recent months, new government commitments – already to the military – have pushed back economic problems and sharply reduced the ability of the economy to influence its own regulation and negotiate tax breaks in exchange for investment (except in new high-risk regions). The dialogue is still being conducted around the fulfillment by business of tasks to meet the specific economic needs of the military operation with specific companies. At the same time, the companies themselves, according to the October survey of the same RSPP, are quite satisfied with their interaction with the state in October: 15% believe that they have improved, and only 2% are convinced of the opposite.

One gets the impression that both sides are aware of the current situation: although the RSPP reminds the government of the institutional arrangements of previous years, it does so without much pressure; the government, without answering anything, makes it clear that it essentially has no objections, but it’s not up to it now: when the choice between military and economic needs is de facto made, they don’t cry over the business climate.