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Finance Ministry Stands Firm on Regional Budgets
The Finance Ministry is refusing to barter with the Federation Council over regional income in the 2008-2010 budget. This was made clear by the public response of Deputy Ministers of Finance Anton Siluanov and Sergey Shatalov to a list of 36 proposals on that topic made by the Federation Council. The ministry does not see a need to give the regions assistance. “In 2006, the incomes of regional budgets rose almost by a third. They have money, and not bad money,” Siluanov noted.
The list of demands was sent to the Finance Ministry on February 2. The chief among them was that 100 percent of the excise charge on gasoline (about 170 billion rubles per year) be directed to the regions. The senators also wanted to raise the portion of the profits tax received by the regions from 17.5 to 19 percent to compensate for losses of federal property tax benefits and to cancel tax benefits worth 60 billion rubles per year received by state monopolies.
Instead of that, the Finance Ministry is prepared to introduce a “system of ratings of the quality of management of regional finances,” with the ministry's subsidy reserves (1 billion rubles in the 2007) to be distributed among the regions attaining the highest ratings. According to the Finance Ministry, 55 regions had budget excesses in 2006, as compared to 36 in 2005.
The discussion between Finance Ministry representatives and the senators will continue. The Audit Chamber is also preparing a program to analyze the federal financing of the regions in 2006 with an eye to establishing their needs for 2008. That program may add support to the arguments of the senators. The Finance Ministry and Audit Chamber have bad relations.
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of Feb. 08, 2007
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