The Ministry of Finance revealed the distribution of the fiscal burden among the country's citizens
The government, changing the tax scale for citizens, constantly emphasizes the desire to achieve greater social justice in its fiscal policy. Obviously, in order to prove this fairness, the Ministry of Finance presented data from the Federal Tax Service (FTS) on the distribution of personal income tax collections across four income groups. It turned out that only 0.3% of Russian taxpayers belonging to the richest group provide almost a fifth of all personal income tax revenues.
At the end of last week, at a meeting of the Russian Tripartite Commission, the Ministry of Finance presented data on the distribution of personal income tax revenues among various income groups of the Russian population. As it turned out, only 167 thousand of our compatriots officially received annual incomes of over 10 million rubles in 2023. this is only 0.3% of all income tax payers. Despite the fact that this income group of workers turned out to be the smallest, it provided 19% of all income from personal income tax last year, which amounted to 1.2 trillion rubles. Let us remind you that citizens’ incomes over 5 million rubles were taxed at an increased rate of 15%.
The overwhelming majority of personal income tax payers – 82.1% – had an annual income of up to 1 million rubles before tax, as follows from data from the Ministry of Finance and the Federal Tax Service. This income group includes 53.6 million people in Russia. It provided 38% of all budget revenues from personal income tax last year – 2.5 trillion rubles.
It is curious that approximately the same total amount of taxes went to the treasury from workers with annual incomes from 1 million to 5 million rubles. There were 11.2 million people in the country last year, or 17.1% of all taxpayers.
Well, the budget received the least from citizens with incomes from 5 million to 10 million rubles – RUB 323 billion Last year, 364 thousand people, or 0.5% of individuals, had such income.
As follows from the materials of the Ministry of Finance, there are a total of 65.3 million personal income tax payers in the country. Although, according to Rosstat, in 2023 there were 83.4 million people of working age in the country. If we take into account the fact that official unemployment in Russia remained at a record low level throughout last year (slightly above 3%), then we can conclude that unemployment remains in the “shadow”. a fairly large “army” Russian workers, amounting to at least 15 million people.
But it is much more important, in light of the changes to the tax system currently being implemented by the government, to compare last year's data with the new parameters of the progressive personal income tax scale currently under consideration. Let us recall that last week the Ministry of Finance submitted amendments to the tax legislation to the government, which, among other things, introduce a five-stage progressive personal income tax scale. The progression starts at the level of 2.4 million rubles of annual income. Citizens receiving an income of 2.4 million rubles to 5 million rubles per month will now transfer 15% of their taxes to the budget. Citizens receiving an annual income of 5 million rubles to 20 million rubles will transfer 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 per year, 22%.
Let us note that the average monthly salary of Russians (calculated by dividing the entire wage fund by the number of officially employed citizens) last year was 74,854 rubles. Based on the results of the 1st quarter of 2024, it increased to 80,582 rubles.
Deepening the progression of personal income tax will bring the budget an additional 533 billion rubles, as follows from the Ministry of Finance bill. Until 2030 inclusive, the total amount of revenue, taking into account changes in the parameters of standard tax deductions, will be about 3.1 trillion rubles. According to Freedom Finance Global leading analyst Natalya Milchakova, by 2026 the Russian budget may become deficit-free. This may ease inflationary pressure on the Russian economy, which will be beneficial to all citizens of the country.
Of course, the gradation of the proposed personal income tax scale does not coincide exactly with the income groups that the Ministry of Finance statistically identified according to the Federal Tax Service data last year. But certain conclusions can be drawn from a comparison of numbers – at least approximate – it is possible, and they seem quite unambiguous.
Firstly, with the proposed gradation of the progressive personal income tax scale, it is obvious that the overwhelming number of citizens will not be affected by such tax changes. It turns out that out of 65 million working Russians, only 2.4-2.5 million compatriots receive an income of more than 200 thousand rubles per month. This is about 3.0-3.2% of all workers.
Secondly, data from the Ministry of Finance show: less than 1% of the richest population of the country (if we take the top two income groups in total) provide almost a quarter all revenues to the treasury from personal income tax. Consequently, if the level of the tax burden is slightly raised for them, this will not have too much of an impact on their income – On the one side. And on the other – will bring even more funds to the treasury. Well, the lion’s share of the country’s population – 96-98% of all taxpayers – they simply will not feel any changes in taxation.
This is the very tax fairness that the authorities are seeking. Which is what needed to be proven!