Page 67 - RusRPTFeb19

Minister of Economy announced at the "Russia: New Opportunities" Forum that such an increase is indeed being discussed, with several proposals on the topic already formulated. When prodded by journalists on where such discussions are occurring, he replied "in society." Both stories mark continued paralysis on pension reform, despite an increasingly evident need to do something: the number of workers per pensioner continues to shrink, as do pension benefits in real terms.
Figures from the tax authorities show the benefits that digitisation can bring. Tax revenue increased in nominal terms by 22% in 2018, following growth of 19.8% in 2017. In both cases this far outstrips nominal GDP growth. With the exception of energy, tobacco and alcohol, the tax burden has remained flat. It appears instead that the authorities have made significant gains in tax collection rates and reducing the size of the informal sector.
Russia's Finance Ministry warned that it would have a RUB204bn ($3.3bn) hole in budget revenues in it if state-owned enterprises (SOE) don’t pay out the 50% of profits they have been ordered to by the government, Interfax and Vedomosti daily said on April 23 citing unnamed sources in the government.
The 2018 federal budget planned to raise RUB380bn in dividends based on 50% of IFRS net profit, most of the state majors dodge. Gazprom natural gas giant alone will save paying the state RUB78bn by paying 25% of consolidated net profit.
Rosneftegaz holding controlled by influential ally of President Vladimir Putin Igor Sechin is another long-time rival of the Ministry of Finance in the fight for dividends, and still holds half of the RUB40.6bn interim dividends for January- June 2017 from Russia's largest oil company Rosneft. Rosneftegaz does nothing other than hold shares and has less than a dozen employees. Sechin is head of both the oil company and the holding.
Also Russian oil pipeline monopoly Transneft dodged the full dividend payout for 2017. t is unlikely that given the favourable oil prices environment the government will manage to create urgency and will to have the oil and gas giants budge.
Russia's oil and gas sectors were a key source of tax revenues in 2017,
according to data from the Federal Tax Service (FNS).
The two extractive sectors (that also included the mining industries) provided some 29.2% of all revenue to Russia's consolidated federal budget, which includes both federal and regional budgets. That figure is up over 2016, when it reached 26.5%.
Meanwhile, increasing Mineral Extraction Tax (NDPI) returns drove some 40% of revenue growth in 2017 over 2016, or RUB2.8 trillion ($50bn).
The key dynamic at play over the last year was rising oil prices, which increased an average 25% y/y, according to Dmitri Kulikov at the domestic rating agency AKRA.
Tax revenue increases were also helped by a temporary limit on loss carryforwards, set to expire in 2020. The trend goes beyond tax revenue, with carry sectors driving industrial output as well, adds Kulikov.
67 RUSSIA Country Report February 2019 www.intellinews.com