Russia may waive payment of funded pensions, raise taxes

Former Finance Minister of Russia and head of the Committee of Civil Initiatives Alexei Kudrin said about the inevitability of higher taxes in Russia over the next five-ten years, according to Russia’s RBC news agency.

"It is complicated to increase the burden in our country significantly. I don’t rule out that it may be increased due to the fact that we have not increased the retirement age and also due to the fact that the financial challenges remain in place for the next five to ten years," Kudrin said at the annual meeting of the Board of Governors of the World Bank and the IMF in Peru.

He explained that even if the government increases the retirement age in the coming years, it will happen gradually, and the budget will still need additional resources to finance the deficit of the Pension Fund.

"So this burden will in some way fall on the shoulders of the employers or citizens. Actually, we can’t evade it," said Kudrin. Ex-finance minister believes that the government has already decided to take these steps, by withdrawing additional revenues of oil companies and freezing pension savings. However, he said that "these sources have already been exhausted."

Kudrin also said that soon the question may arise about the introduction of a progressive tax scale for individuals. "Theoretically, when the burden increases on the citizens, it is always the question of who should pay more: the poor or the rich? Should the burden be distributed evenly? A public debate will rise immediately, and the question of a progressive scale will come up again," he said.................

unian.info