Russians receiving salaries of 200 thousand rubles per month will pay an increased rate
Russia has presented the final version of changing the tax scale for citizens. The minimum threshold for the increased fee turned out to be even higher than what was discussed the day before in the State Duma, where it was proposed to take two average salaries as a basis. Now, according to the government’s plan, personal income tax of 15% will be paid only by persons receiving an income of 2.4 million rubles per year, that is, with salaries of 200 thousand rubles. Citizens with an income of 5 to 20 million rubles of annual income will send 18% to the budget, from 20 million to 50 million rubles — 20%, and those with an income above 50 million rubles will need to pay 22% of personal income tax. Experts told MK what these changes are aimed at and how many Russians they will affect.
The path to a multi-level taxation scale in Russia was long. Let us recall that from 2001 to 2021, our country had a single tax scale for everyone with a rate of 13%. This seriously helped to “whiten” wages and bring entire sectors out of the so-called “gray zone”. “Salaries in envelopes are a thing of the past for most citizens,” says economist and communications director at BitRiver Andrey Loboda.
Then, on the initiative of Russian President Vladimir Putin, a two-stage system was introduced. Russians receiving an annual income of up to 5 million rubles paid 13% taxes. Those whose incomes were higher were required to contribute 15% to the budget. This system worked for three years and also worked well, although it had to function during the difficult period of the pandemic and subsequent economic recovery. “All this time, Russia had one of the strongest positions in the world in terms of balanced taxation of workers,” notes Loboda.
And so “in high offices” they decided to modernize this system and make it multi-stage. The Ministry of Finance began the corresponding work at the end of last year. The process of changing the personal income tax scale and the profit tax rate noticeably accelerated after Vladimir Putin’s call “for a more equitable distribution of the tax burden,” sounded in his message to the Federal Assembly at the end of February.
The powers that be held an open and fairly large-scale discussion about what a fair tax scale would look like, in which expert councils at various levels, the State Duma, the Federation Council and other structures took part. As part of the discussions, certain recommendations were developed and sent to the government. For example, the day before, the State Duma Budget Committee, when adjusting the tax system, advised taking two average salaries in our country as the threshold for increasing personal income tax, that is, they proposed increasing the tax rate for those who receive an income of at least 150 thousand rubles per month. However, in the end, the government approved an even higher threshold for increased taxation. Citizens receiving income from 2.4 million rubles to 5 million rubles per month will now transfer 15% of taxes to the budget. In other words, the fee has been increased for persons with a salary of 200 thousand rubles or more. Citizens receiving an annual income from 5 million rubles to 20 million rubles will contribute 18% to the budget. For Russians with an annual income of 20 million to 50 million rubles, the tax will be 20%, and for those who receive over 50 million rubles a year — 22%.
With such a gradation, it is obvious that the vast majority of citizens will not be affected by such tax changes. Let us recall that, according to Rosstat, in January the average monthly nominal salary in our country was just over 75 thousand rubles, in February — over 78 thousand rubles. Of the 64 million working Russians, only 2.4 million compatriots receive an income of more than 200 thousand rubles per month, or 3.2% of all workers.
According to Alexander Safonov, a professor at the Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation, the introduction of progressive scale of income tax on income, taking into account the fact that the federal budget deficit in 2023 amounted to about 3.241 trillion rubles, will make it possible to completely balance the budget in 2025. Let us recall that in accordance with the law on the federal budget for 2024 and the planned years 2025-2026, in 2025, Russian budget revenues were planned in the amount of 27.98 trillion rubles, and expenses — 29.24 trillion rubles. The new revenues received from the multi-level personal income tax scale will make it possible to increase government spending in the near future, and the government will be able to support new infrastructure projects and thereby maintain positive GDP dynamics.