The tax burden on the gas sector needs to be further increased to boost budget revenues, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said in his budget address to parliament on Wednesday.
"To increase budget revenues, and taking into account the favorable price conditions on external markets, it is necessary to continue increasing the tax burden on the gas sector, which means collecting surplus revenues from taxpayers receiving them through their operations on world natural gas markets," Medvedev said.
The Russian government is discussing measures to raise the subsoil tax on gas production from next year and double it for the gas monopoly Gazprom.
The minerals extraction tax for independent gas producers will rise to only 251 rubles per 1000 cubic meters in 2012 and 265 rubles in 2013 under the formula prescribed in the Tax Code while the subsoil tax for Gazprom is expected to rise to 480 rubles in 2012, 600 rubles in 2013 and 635 rubles in 2014.
Gazprom Deputy CEO Andrei Kruglov said on Wednesday that the gas monopoly’s larger gas exports and higher gas prices will exceed revenues planned in the federal budget and help avoid a large increase in the gas subsoil tax.
