Russia eyes oil tax cut
Russia's Finance Ministry will propose a 100 billion roubles ($4.2 billion)
reduction in tax on the oil sector from 2009, Deputy Prime Minister and
Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin said today.
"We will put forward a proposal to lower the tax burden on the oil sector by
100 billion roubles from 2009," Kudrin said at an annual meeting of the
Economy Ministry.
The comment represents a victory for the oil lobby which has been complaining
in the past years that heavy taxation is reducing the industry's ability to
invest in new fields, although its scale has yet to be evaluated.
Kudrin said the Finance Ministry will submit a new set of tax reform proposals
by the end of this week which will include tax breaks for the oil industry,
aimed at boosting innovation in the oil-based economy, as well as changes
related to the profit and amortisation taxes, Reuters reported.
Prime Minister Viktor Zubkov, speaking earlier at the same gathering, asked
both the Finance and Economy Ministries to present detailed calculations on
the impact of a proposed cut of the value-added tax by August this year.
Kudrin, an opponent of the VAT cut, said that any decision on the issue will
not come into force earlier than 2010.
"Any decision will be incorporated in the next three-year period," Kudrin
said.
25 March 2008 10:01 GMT
| last updated:
25 March 2008 10:01 GMT
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