Official: Govt to revise oil tax maneuver, adjustments possible

MOSCOW, Mar 20 (PRIME) -- The Russian government plans to assess the impact of a oil tax maneuver on the national hydrocarbon industry in a few days, and may adjust the new taxation system, Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Kozak told reporters on Wednesday.

“In a few days, we will again check the impact of the tax maneuver on the oil industry and the mechanisms to maintain the level of prices in small-batch wholesale trade and in retail trade. We will do everything necessary if there is objective need to adjust something. We are not talking about drastic changes, and we have corresponding suggestions from oil companies,” he said.

The government would also try to suspend the mechanism of manual management of fuel prices through agreements with oil companies, he said.

The government plans to implement the tax maneuver in the oil industry through a gradual abolishment of the export duty on oil and an increase of mineral extraction tax.

In 2018, fuel prices in Russia grew rapidly, and the government forced an agreement with oil companies obliging them to raise fuel prices by no more than 1.7% from January 1, 2019 and to raise prices starting from February 1 in way that the price index does not overshoot forecasted annual inflation of 4.6% for 2019.

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