Russia's finance minister promises stable tax burden for companies

The Russian government has assured companies that their tax burden will not change, the country's Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said following a meeting with President Vladimir Putin’s aide Andrei Belousov and business representatives.

"We have informed the companies that the government has no plans to raise taxes on businesses. On the contrary, we have reassured them that the tax burden will not change compared to the burden already discussed with the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs (RUIE) and the firms and which has already been adopted legislatively. We will keep it unchanged," the Finance Minister said.

Alexander Shokhin, president of the RUIE said that the members of the meeting discussed steps to raise investment activity, but not a proposal to impose new taxes made by Belousov earlier in August.

"We have not discussed (the proposal) itself. We discussed a plan of joint efforts to encourage investment activity of the companies, first of all the way the companies implement priorities envisaged by May Order in their investment plans and intents," Prime cited him as saying.

Belousov suggested additional taxes of up to 500 billion rubles a year on some metals, petrochemical, and fertilizer producers. The Finance, Economic Development, and Industry and Trade ministries expressed their dissatisfaction with the project.

According to Shokhin, the members of the meeting decided to look for effective instruments and to list investment projects which will not hurt the companies. They also decided that the entrepreneurs should try to use the best available technologies, take into account environmental issues and digital transformation, and invest in regional infrastructure.

Siluanov said that the government does not plan to take away the companies’ additional revenue from the current weakening of the ruble, but will support their investment activity and propose new investment directions interesting for the firms.

Belousov said that he and Siluanov will report the results of the meeting to Putin later on Friday, adding that there was not enough time to discuss fresh Western sanctions at the meeting.