Gaming Taxes Fall Off
Federal Treasure data show that the gaming industry had produced 21.3 billion rubles in tax income in the first eight months of this year. In any other category of tax, that would indicate that the annual goal of 30.2 billion rubles will be met easily and regional budgets would be enriched. (They receive gaming tax income.) That is not the case with the gaming tax, however. Last year, the State Duma passed a law that will segregate the industry in four reservations after July 1, 2009, and allows regions to impose their own limitations on the industry after July 1 of this year.
About 50 regions have sacrificed their budgetary interests in favor of eliminating gambling earlier. Krasnoyarsk Territory and Ivanovo and Belgorod Regions banned gambling promptly on July 1, 2007. A number of regions, including Stavropol Territory and Chelyabinsk and Kursk Regions, eliminated gaming machine halls but not casinos on that date.
Budget proceeds from gaming will thus fall in the second half of this year and the annual target is expected not to be met, for the first time n recent years. The fall in income will continue next year as well, since some region set January 1 as the date for the elimination of gambling. Thus, while tax proceeds from gambling were growing rapidly just a year ago, with 31.1 billion rubles collected in 2006, compared to 10.1 billion rubles in 2004, that is now part of history. Even in Moscow, where no prohibitions have been imposed, 2008 tax receipts from gaming are expected to be 4.8 billion rubles, 20 percent less than in 2007.
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of Oct. 10, 2007
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