Higher taxation of the better-off is fair and long overdue, Russian businessman Alisher Usmanov says
Increasing taxes for Russians with high incomes would be a fair and long-overdue decision, Russian metals tycoon Alisher Usmanov has said, and other wealthy compatriots of his agree.
On Tuesday, the Russian Ministry of Finance submitted to the government a package of amendments to the country’s tax system which includes new tax thresholds for those earning over 2.4 million roubles ($26,800) and a hike in corporation income tax. The changes are expected to add some 2.6 trillion rubles ($29 billion) a year to the country’s coffers, according to the ministry’s calculations, as cited by Interfax.
On Monday, Usmanov, an Uzbek-born billionaire, had stated that tax increases would help Russian authorities to solve a wide range of social tasks that were set, “the volume of which grows along with the economy and level of well-being.”
The billionaire holds a major stake in USM, a Russian investment group with holdings in Metalloinvest, one of the world’s largest iron ore producers, and telecommunications company MegaFon. Usmanov’s net worth totals $13.6 billion, according to Forbes.
“It will be fair if part of the [tax] burden is redistributed to citizens with high incomes without putting pressure on the broader population,” Usmanov said, according to a statement published by Metalloinvest.
Income tax at present in Russia amounts to 13% for the majority of Russians, with a 15% rate for earners of an annual income of more than $56,000. The finance ministry proposed to apply a 15% rate for annual incomes ranging from 2.4 million to 5 million rubles ($26,900 to $56,000). For income between the current equivalent of $56,000 and $224,200, the rate will rise to 18%. A rate of 20% will apply to taxpayers with an annual wage of between 20 50 million rubles ($224,200 and $560,600). For earnings exceeding 50 million rubles ($560,600), the proposed new rate would be 22%.
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