The expert evaluated the new social initiative of the people's deputies
The topic of combating poverty in Russia is almost the most key, it is talked about from every rostrum. But once it comes down to a concrete decision, the standard answer is: no money, but you hang on. So the bill, prepared by a number of State Duma deputies on zeroing income tax for poor Russians, is likely to be postponed «until better times.» Which, apparently, will not come soon.
Deputies of the LDPR faction have prepared a bill to abolish the personal income tax for individuals who earn less than 30 thousand rubles a month. The authors of the document believe that this amount is the optimal threshold for the abolition of income tax. Although it is almost twice the official level of the minimum wage in the country -16,242 rubles.
The legislative initiative has already been submitted to the government for an opinion. If the Cabinet gives the go-ahead, then such a measure will keep the bulk of the money earned in the family and improve the standard of living of poor Russians. After all, 4,000 rubles of tax, which are today withheld by the state, are important for poor citizens. You can also stock up on potatoes just in case of a fire and even on holidays enjoy fish products, which are terribly expensive.
But it's all «if.» What's embarrassing? It should be noted that this is far from the first deputy initiative aimed at making life easier for poor Russians. Everyone remembers, for example, the long-term efforts of people's deputies, representatives of different factions, to index pensions for working pensioners. They, as you know, ended in zilch.
In November last year, the same sad fate befell the bill to increase the marginal the size of the property deduction for personal income tax when buying a home and paying interest on a mortgage.
And if we delve into the recent history of the issue of social protection of the population, then we recall that even with a zero personal income tax rate for low-income Russians, the government «rolled» Duma back in 2019 — before the pandemic and the special operation.
The chances that the situation could repeat itself now are very high. Economic sanctions, a huge budget deficit, spending on NWO… Is there at least one good reason why the government would meet halfway between the Duma members? That's it…
It is clear that additional budgetary funds will be required to abolish income tax. But what exactly, even the authors of the bill do not know yet. But they will be found in the budget if a progressive taxation scale is introduced in Russia, these additional funds from wealthy Russians will more than cover budget losses when income tax is abolished for low-income citizens. However, the «progressive» in Russia, it seems, they are not going to introduce it. What can the poor — in the truest sense of the word — a Russian?
— I do not think that the fate of this social bill will be more successful than its predecessors, — says trade unionist Pavel Kudyukin, former Deputy Minister of Labor of the Russian Federation. — The general procedure for adopting such documents is as follows: if the implementation of the bill requires additional funding from the budget, it is first sent to the government. I believe that in the conditions of a federal budget deficit, it will give a negative conclusion.
— According to the law, they can. But it is obvious that in case of a negative conclusion of the government, the bill is guaranteed not to gain a majority of votes.
— Now I can’t say exactly the number of such Russians, but it is significant — the bill goes into the millions. We have a high level of income and salary differentiation. The level of the average salary «stretches» due to super profits of employees of large companies and corporations. The wealthiest 10% of Russians account for about 30% of the total cash income in the country, while the poorest 10% of citizens with incomes below the minimum wage account for only 2%. So the «average» the statistics here are deceptive.