Updated August 20, 2008

   In July, 2008 the Federal Tax Service set the absolute record on taxes collection – within a month they for the first time exceeded RUR 1,5 trillion without the VAT, as well as in April, 2008. So, the overall sum totals more than RUR 1 trillion. July’s core achievement is the acceleration of income taxes that totaled more than RUR 0,4 trillion. The economists can’t explain the reasons of such rapid growth of taxes payment because in summer, 2008 large M&A deals explaining surges of the income tax didn’t take place.

   Within the first seven months of 2008 the Federal Tax Service (FTS) transferred to Russia’s budgetary system RUR 6,31 trillion, of which RUR 2,71 trillion received the federal budget, the extra-budgetary (the pension fund and others) – RUR 0,92 trillion, and the rest was transferred to the regional and municipal budgets. The revenues to the budgetary system went 37,3% up as compared to the analogical period of the previous year. It is better to mark that revenues to the federal budget were growing quicker: for January-July they totaled RUR 5,68 trillion, and it is 46,6% more than in the previous year. These differences are explained by the rapid growth of the FTS’s surplus: for the first seven months the FTS transferred RUR 2,63 trillion to the budget.

   The tax revenues are accelerating due to several factors: inflation, economy growth followed by the population’s income growth, improvement of tax discipline and, finally, high prices for the Russian raw materials. All these factors influence on the tax statistics. Within seven months, the income tax grew to RUR 0,93 trillion, and it is 39,3% more as compared to the analogical period of the previous year. During this time, the incomes and salaries grew by nearly 30%, and the rest is obviously explained by the net salaries.

  The MET on oil (Mineral Extraction Tax) has demonstrated the highest growth among all basic taxes – the collected sum is RUR 0,95 trillion, and it is 73,9% more than in January-July, 2007. This tax’s rate is linked to the world oil prices, and in 1H 2008 they set new records. The income tax just accelerated. Firstly, its revenues grew by 46,4% (to RUR 1,65 trillion), it is quicker than the income growth of the Russian enterprises, as per the data of Rosstat (Federal State Statistics Service). In January-May, 2008 it increased by 34,6%. Secondly, in 2008 the monthly dynamics of its revenues was unstable. If in June only RUR 0,1 trillion of this tax was transferred to the federal and regional budgets, in July it was already RUR 0,42 trillion. It is better to mark that the last figure corresponds to the taxable income at nearly $70 billion.

   None of the economists surveyed could explain the reasons of such volatility; the majority of them either referred to unawareness of the FTS’ data, or evasively reasoned saying that "maybe, it is somehow linked to the accounting reporting". The central body of the agency is traditionally refuses to comment. However, the reports of the FTS’s Administration for the Moscow Province traditionally give three explanations of taxes growth: "active control work of the tax bodies in relation to unprofitable organizations", "payment of the income tax from stocks sale" and "revenues growth of the income tax from a surplus received as dividends". Moscow’s stake in the income tax is huge (about 20%), but it can’t give clear explanations of such surge. There was no data about deals with stocks for billions of dollars recently, as the M&A was almost dead in summer, 2008.