President Dmitry Medvedev and the government agree that the payroll tax, Russia's key corporate tax, should be reduced, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said on Thursday.
"The government, presidential administration, and the president share a common position. We all believe it should be done. But we have to calculate, we cannot make any mistakes here," Putin told a business forum.
In 2011, the government raised the tax, which companies pay to pension, social insurance and obligatory medical insurance funds depending on the amount of salaries they pay, to 34 percent from 26 percent. Medvedev has ordered the government to devise ways to cut the rate from 2012, as many companies cannot afford it.
The government was to present preliminary proposals in May, but Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin said on Tuesday the government had not yet worked out a solution.
MOSCOW, May 26 (RIA Novosti)
